Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve
Factors affecting the property in 1998*
- Financial resources
- Ground transport infrastructure
- Identity, social cohesion, changes in local population and community
- Illegal activities
- Management systems/ management plan
- Mining
Factors* affecting the property identified in previous reports
- Lack of Management Plan;
- Lack of funding;
- Poaching;
- New railway;
- Mining;
- Proposed reduction of the protected area;
- Refugees from Liberia
International Assistance: requests for the property until 1998
Total amount approved : 345,222 USD
Missions to the property until 1998**
November 1988: June-July 1992: UNESCO field visit; May 1993: joint UNESCO/UNDP/IUCN mission; 1994: 2nd expert mission
Information presented to the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee in 1998
The Committee, at its last session, requested the State Party and the Centre to contact the relevant mining companies, currently exploiting an iron-ore mine in the vicinity of the Reserve, to know more details of their interest and willingness to set up an international foundation for the conservation of Mt. Nimba, along the lines of the Foundation for the World Heritage site of Banc d'Arguin (Mauritania) established in Switzerland. The Centre is in the process of obtaining the details requested by the Committee. The Centre also implemented a project using the US$ 20,000 approved by the Chairperson in 1997 to equip the Reserve's hydrological laboratory.
Action Required
The Bureau, based on additional information that may be available at the time of the twenty second session of the Bureau, may recommend appropriate actions to the consideration of the State Party and/or the Committee as well as the Centre and IUCN.
Conservation issues presented to the World Heritage Committee in 1998
The Committee, at its last session (Naples, 1997), had requested the State Party (Guinea) and the Centre to contact the relevant mining companies, which foresee exploiting an iron-ore mine in the vicinity of the Reserve in order to learn more details of their interest to set up an international foundation for the conservation of Mt. Nimba. The Bureau, at its twenty-second ordinary session (June 1998), learnt that the Secretariat was participating in a meeting jointly organized by the “Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique” (CNRS) and a number of French Foundations on the subject of the “Role of Foundations and Trusts in the Management of Cultural and Natural Heritage”. The Bureau had also noted that the Centre is implementing a project using the US$ 20,000 approved by the Chairperson in 1997 to equip the Reserve's hydrological laboratory and recommended that the Committee retain Mt. Nimba in the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The meeting organized by the CNRS and French Foundations reviewed the role of foundations and trusts in the management of cultural and natural heritage from a very broad perspective. It did not however, improve the chances for the establishment of a specific Foundation for the Conservation of Mt. Nimba. The interest of the mining companies to establish a trust fund or a foundation for the conservation of Mt. Nimba appears to be contingent upon their obtaining the approval from the Government of Guinea to begin exploitation of the mine. The Centre has learnt in discussions with the members of the Permanent Delegation of Guinea to UNESCO that the process for obtaining such an approval of the Government of Guinea may take a considerable period of time. Thus it appears unlikely that a foundation or a trust fund for the conservation of Mt. Nimba will be established in the near future.
Summary of the interventions
Decisions adopted by the Committee in 1998
22 BUR V.A.7
Mount Nimba Nature Reserve (Guinea/Côte d’ Ivoire)
The Bureau recalled that the Committee, at its last session, had requested the State Party (Guinea) and the Centre to contact the relevant mining companies, which foresee exploiting an iron-ore mine in the vicinity of the Reserve, to learn more details of their interest and willingness to set up an international foundation for the conservation of Mt. Nimba. The Bureau was informed that the Secretariat was intending to participate at a meeting, on 25 June 1998, jointly organised by the “Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique” (CNRS) and a certain number of French Foundations on the subject of the “Role of Foundations and Trusts in the Management of Cultural and Natural Heritage”. Furthermore, the Bureau noted that the Centre is implementing a project using the US$ 20,000 approved by the Chairperson in 1997 to equip the Reserve's hydrological laboratory.
The Bureau requested the Secretariat to report to the twenty-second session of the Committee on the outcome of its participation at the meeting organised by the CNRS and French Foundations and on the feasibility of establishing a foundation for Mt. Nimba. It recommended that the Committee retain Mt. Nimba in the List of World Heritage in Danger.
22 COM VII.7
SOC: Mount Nimba Nature Reserve (Guinea/Côte d'Ivoire)
VII.7 Mount Nimba Nature Reserve (Guinea/ Côte d'Ivoire)
The Committee, at its last session (Naples, 1997), had requested the State Party (Guinea) and the Centre to contact the relevant mining companies, which foresee the exploitation of an iron-ore mine in the vicinity of the Reserve, in order to learn more details of their interest to set up an international foundation for the conservation of Mt. Nimba. The Committee was informed of a letter dated 20 September 1998, from the Permanent Executive Secretary of the MAB National Committee for Guinea informing the Centre that the Nimba Mining Company (NIMCO) has been dissolved by the Government and no other enterprise has been created to replace it.
The Committee noted that the establishment of a foundation or a trust fund for the conservation of Mt. Nimba appears increasingly unlikely in the immediate future. The Committee agreed with IUCN's observation that on-site information on the state of conservation of Mt. Nimba had not been updated for about three years. It accepted IUCN's offer to request its Regional Office for West Africa in Burkina Faso to undertake a mission, at the invitation of States Parties concerned, in order to prepare a state of conservation report for submission to the twenty-third session of the Committee. The Committee decided to retain Mt. Nimba in the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The Committee may wish to adopt the following:
“The Committee decides to retain Mt. Nimba in the List of World Heritage in Danger and requests the Centre, IUCN and the two States Parties co-operate to prepare an up-to-date state of conservation report for Mt. Nimba for submission to its twenty-third session in 1999. The Committee suggests that a strategic plan for the long term conservation of Mt. Nimba is also elaborated on the basis of the state of conservation report.”
Côte d'Ivoire 
Guinea
Exports
* :
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.
