Historic Centre of Agadez

• Management systems/ management plan
• Low impact research/monitoring activities

On 12 December 2015, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1268/documents/. Progress in a number of conservation issues addressed by the Committee at its previous sessions is presented in this brief report, as follows:

• Inventories conducted in 2014 and 2015 have permitted a diagnosis of the state of conservation of more than fifty buildings, twenty of which have been the subjects of technical dossiers;
• Work undertaken at the Grand Mosque to replace all nonconforming materials with local and traditional materials is intended to serve as a model for the community as a whole
• The use of nonconforming elements has decreased as a consequence of the influence and involvement of the Sultan and opinion leaders, who are working to mitigate if not systematically stop the use of elements that have a negative impact on the authenticity of the property;
• The Ministry responsible for culture has provided financial support to vulnerable families to help supply clay plaster for more than fifty houses;
• The use of inappropriate advertising panels and billboards is expected to be reduced in the near future as a result of regular monitoring and the sensitization of stakeholders;
• Concrete actions aimed at improving sanitation in the property have included installing 90 catch basins for wastewater and 15 latrines, realized under the United Nations Development Programme;
• Regular monitoring of the property is being conducted by the Conservation and Management Unit of the Historic Centre of Agadez (CECOGAZ), as well as by vigilance committees in eleven targeted neighbourhoods. A summary table of monitoring indicators and their expected outcomes has been drafted and submitted with this state of conservation report;
• The current conservation and management plan will be updated in 2016.

The State Party’ state of conservation report outlines the progress achieved on the recommendations made by the Committee at the time of inscription in 2013, rather than on the specific requests it made in 2014 (Decision 38 COM 7B.52). In brief, the 2013 recommendations were to continue the inventory of monuments and housing, establish restoration standards, monitor the results of the policy prohibiting the use of non-traditional materials, deal with the inappropriate advertisements inside the property and buffer zone, develop monitoring indicators and report the results of their application, engage the population and raise local awareness, focus on the transmission of traditional construction practices, address the question of rare traditional wood species, and pay more attention to sanitation. The progress on these conservation issues described in the current report is encouraging but slow, likely because of difficulties encountered related to inadequate resources.

Absent from this state of conservation report are progress updates on a Tourism Plan and on a more fully-developed elaboration of key monitoring indicators, both of which were highlighted in the Committee’s decision in 2014. The State Party has not commented on whether any progress has been made on a Sustainable Tourism Development and Management Plan. The State Party’ stated intent to update the property’s overall Conservation and Management Plan in 2016 provides a well-timed opportunity to include with it an integrated sustainable tourism strategy.

While a summary table of monitoring indicators and their expected outcomes has been submitted with the current state of conservation report, there remains a need to more fully develop key monitoring indicators in order to be able to assess, both in the moment and over time, whether the values for which the property was inscribed on the World Heritage List are being maintained. These key indicators, both quantitative and qualitative, must be linked directly to the attributes and processes that sustain the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), including the authenticity and integrity of the property. The key indicators should relate to management systems that actively help to sustain the OUV; they should be practical, so that data can be collected in a regular and systematic way; the periodicity of their examination should be indicated, along with the identity of the authorities responsible for collecting the data; and they should be measurable, wherever this is practicable.

The World Heritage Centre and Advisory Bodies appreciate the State Party’s continuing attention to the recommendations made by the Committee at the time of inscription in 2013. Furthermore, it is recommended that the Committee reiterate its encouragement to the State Party to develop and integrate a Sustainable Tourism Development and Management Plan with the updated Conservation and Management Plan for the property that is planned for 2016 and to consult with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies to more fully develop key monitoring indicators.