Galápagos Islands

16 BUR V.22

Galapagos National Park (Ecuador)

The Bureau was informed that the employees of this World Heritage site recently staged a four-week strike demanding higher salaries and other improvements of their working conditions. The Bureau also noted that a draft tourism and conservation plan for Galapagos is now being finalized and the Master Plan for the management of the Park would have to be revised in the light of the strategies and programme of actions foreseen in the tourism and conservation plan. The Bureau recommended that the World Heritage Centre contact the Ecuadorean authorities and request them to consider undertaking all possible measures to improve salaries and working conditions of the Park staff and revise the Master Plan for the management of the site, in order to harmonize its implementation with that of the tourism and conservation plan for Galapagos.

16 COM VIII

SOC: Galapagos National Park (Ecuador)

Galapagos National Park (Ecuador)

The Committee was informed that the employees of this World Heritage site staged a four-week strike during may-June 1992, demanding higher salaries and other improvements of their working conditions. The Committee also noted that a draft tourism and conservation plan for Galapagos is now being finalized and the management plan of the Park would have to be revised in the light of the strategies and programme of action foreseen in the tourism and conservation plan.

The Committee noted with satisfaction that the Galapagos National Park authorities, in accordance with the recommendations made by the Bureau at its last session, have up-graded the annual training course for guards and guides of the Park by inviting international participation. They have also submitted a request for technical co-operation for revising the management plan to take account of strategies and programmes of action foreseen in the tourism and conservation plan.

16 COM XI.A-B

Requests for International Assistance

The Committee examined document WHC-92/CONF/002/8, 8Add. and 8Add.2, as well as information on additional requests received by the Committee from States Parties during its session, and approved the following projects:

A. Technical Co-operation                                            US$

Galapagos National Park (Ecuador)                             29,000
Revision of the Management Plan to harmonize its goals and objectives to that of the tourism and conservation plan. The Committee instructed the Centre to provide these funds to the Galapagos authorities on the condition that they finalise the implementation of on-going projects receiving assistance from the World Heritage Fund and nominate in 1993, the marine park as an extension to the World Heritage site.

Old City of Cairo (Egypt)                                                            50,000
Restoration of monuments and sites damaged by the earthquake which occurred in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt in October 1992.

Mt. Nimba Nature Reserve (Cote d'Ivoire/ Guinea)            35,000
Organization of an interdisciplinary mission to ascertain boundaries of the site in Guinea, assess impacts of iron-ore mining projects and influx of refugees into the region and plan integrated rural development projects benefiting the local population. The Committee instructed the Centre to contact donors such as UNDP and the World Bank to explore the feasibility of obtaining funds for the organization of the interdisciplin­ary mission and to keep costs of organizing this mission to the minimum possible level.

Historic Areas of Istanbul (Turkey)                                          30,000
Provision of materials and equipment for the restoration of mosaics in St. Sophia.

World Heritage Cities Organization                                 50,000
Support to allow participation at the General Assembly and colloquium of the World Heritage Cities Network, mid-1993, Fez, Morocco.

Sub-total (Technical Co-operation) 194,000

B. Training

1. Saudi Arabia                                                              30,000
Organization of a training course (4-19 April, 1993) on protected area management for the Arab region.

2. France/Mali                                                               30,000
Organization of a one-month (January­- February 1993) course for Francophone Africa in ecology and conservation in the Boucle de Baoule Biosphere Reserve, Mali.

The Committee instructed the Centre to request:

a) the organizers to incorporate a component on the philosophy and work of the Convention in the course curriculum;
b) undertake an evaluation of the course, covering the last 5-year period, and providing specific information on the extent to which course participants have returned to African States Parties to assume responsibilities concerned with natural heritage protection;
c) to ensure in the future that these field courses take place, if possible, at an African natural site inscribed on the World Heritage List.

The Committee also requested the Centre to inform the course organizers (ENGREF/France), that contributions from the Fund for this course will, in the future, depend upon the findings of this evaluation.

3. ICCROM
a) Financial contributions to trainees from States Parties participating in two courses, namely architectural conservation and scientific principles of conservation, respectively, to be held in Rome, Italy, January-March 1993.               30,000

b) Financial contribution to trainees from States Parties participating in the 10th International course on Technology of Stone Conservation and organization of study tours during the course, Venice, Italy, autumn 1993.        44,000

Sub-total (Training) 134,000

The Committee took note of the fact that it approved, at its .fourteenth session in Banff, Canada, a sum of US$50,000 for the Talamanca-La Amistad Reserves of Costa Rica, subject to the State Party satisfying two conditions, viz. that the Costa Rican authorities (a) report on the completion of the projects for which the Committee had already provided funds and, (b) revise the boundaries of the site in accordance with IUCN's recommendations. The Committee was satisfied to note that the Costa Rican authorities have completed the implementation of two of three on-going projects which receive assistance from the World Heritage Fund. The Committee requested the Centre to contact the Costa Rican authorities and to urge them to expedite the implementation of the remaining project and revise the boundaries of the Talamanca-La Amistad Reserves in accordance with IUCN's recommendations.

The Committee took note of the fact that the implementation of the project to prepare a Master Plan for the Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary, Peru, for which the Committee approved a sum of US$40,000 during its fifteenth session in Carthage, Tunisia, has not progressed according to the timetable foreseen in the project proposal due to changes in the co­operating government agencies.

The Committee was informed by the Regional Coordinator for the UNDP/UNESCO Project on Cultural Heritage in Latin America and the Caribbean that the situation is now stable and that the implementation rate of the project is expected to improve in 1993.