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State of Conservation (SOC)

Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park (1992)

UNESCO Extra-Budgetary Funds
International Assistance granted to the property

Requests Approved: 0
Total Amount Ap proved: 0USD

Missions**
Factors* affecting the property identified in previous reports

Heavy poaching

Corrective Measures
Current conservation issues

The Bureau recalled that when this site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1988, several members of the Committee had registered their reservations as to its state of conservation and several threats to its integrity. The Bureau was concerned that despite assurances given to the Committee at the time of its inscription and the US$27 million EEC (European Economic Community) project in the region, the deterioration of the property had continued and this site still does not have a management plan.

The Bureau took note of the intention of the President of the Central African Republic to transfer the management of the site to a private foundation, and of the invitation made to UNESCO to participate, as a scientific body, in the management of the site by this foundation. The Bureau requested the World Heritage Centre, together with IUCN, to study this proposal and undertake a detailed analysis of the implications of the transfer of management of the site to a private organization.

The Bureau requested the World Heritage Centre to contact the State Party to know whether the national authorities would invite an expert mission to review the state of conservation of this Park and assess the proposal to lease its management to a private organization. The Bureau emphasized that such a mission should build upon the recent project audit carried out by the EEC and present recommendations on the future viability and management of this site.

A representative of IUCN will provide an analysis of the implications of the transfer of management of the site to a private foundation. The Centre is in contact with the authorities of the Central African Republic in UNESCO and will report, at the time of the Committee meeting, on the possibility for sending an expert mission to review the state of conservation of this site and assess the proposal to lease its management to a private organization.

 

[Report complemented by an oral report by IUCN and the Secretariat during the Committee session]

 

Conclusion
Decision

  • Adopted

  • Draft Decision

16COMVIII
Link to the decision

Manovo-Gounda Saint Floris (Central African Republic)

The Committee recalled that when this site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1988, several members of the Committee had registered their reservations as to its state of conservation and several threats to its integrity. Despite assurances given to the Committee at the time of its inscription and the US$27 million EEC (European Economic Community) project which had been implemented in the region, the deterioration of the property had continued and this site still does not have a management plan. The Committee was informed of the intention of the President of the Central African Republic to transfer the management of the site to a private foundation, and of the invitation made to UNESCO to participate, as a scientific body, in the management of the site by this foundation.

The Committee was satisfied that the State Secretary to the Ministry of Scientific Research and Technology has, in accordance with the recommendations of the Bureau made at its last session held in Paris in July 1992, invited a mission to review the state of conservation of the Park and evaluate the proposal to transfer the management of this site to a private organization. The Committee requested the Centre to organize such a mission, building upon a recent project audit carried out by the EEC. The Committee recommended that the proposal to transfer the management of this site to a private organization be evaluated, particularly in relation to the implications it would have to:

(a) the protection of the site;
(b) participation of local people in the management of the site; and
(c) the social and economic impact the setting up of a private management regime will bring to the region and the nation.

The Committee requested the Centre to submit the findings of this mission and an evaluation of the proposed transfer of management to the seventeenth session of the Bureau.

 

No draft Decision

Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park
State Party:
Central African Republic
Date of Inscription: 1988
Nomination records (Year): 1987
Category: Natural
Criteria: (ix)(x)
Exports
Word File
SOC Reports (year)
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
1993
1992
1990
Threats*
  • Illegal activities
  • Management systems/ management plan
  • Other Threats:
Documents
CLT.92/CONF.003/03
WHC.92/CONF.002/05
Other Documents:
View inscribed site documents, nomination file, reports, decisions, ...
SOC ID: 1682
Inscription on the Danger List
Year: 1997
Threats to the Site:

The site was added to the List of World Heritage in Danger following reports of illegal grazing and poaching by heavily armed hunters, who, according to some reports, may have harvested as much as 80% of the park's wildlife. The shooting of four members of the park staff in early 1997 and a general state of deteriorating security have brought all development projects and tourism to a halt.

The government of the Central African Republic has proposed to assign site management responsibility to a private Foundation. 


* : The threats indicated are listed in alphabetical order; their order does not constitute a classification according to the importance of their impact on the property.
Furthermore, they are presented irrespective of the type of threat faced by the property, i.e. with specific and proven imminent danger (“ascertained danger”) or with threats which could have deleterious effects on the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (“potential danger”).

** : All mission reports are not always available electronically.