Golden Mountains of Altai

• Impacts of a road project across the property
• Gas pipeline construction plans

On 29 January 2016, the State Party submitted a report on the state of conservation of the property, a summary of which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/768/documents, which reports on the following matters:

• Reference is made to the possible construction of a gas pipeline, stressing that no construction is occurring at this stage. Any construction would require a positive result of a federal level Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). No such process is underway, let alone concluded;
• The Federal Government Order N° 1416-r, which had included the gas pipeline under consideration as one of several approved future pipeline projects in August of 2013, has since become invalid through the Federal Government Order N° 816-r dated May 2015. It is also reported that the Government of the Altai Republic has no plans for construction of linear infrastructure or other types of construction projects, which could affect the property.

The State Party reports on additional issues, which are summarized hereafter:

• Commitment is confirmed to the recommendations of the 2012 joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission, whose implementation has repeatedly been requested by the Committee. While acknowledging room for improvement in terms of the overall coordination between the five components of the serial property, consolidation of management is reported for the Katunsky and Altaisky components;
• Illegal access and activities, such as poaching, are reported to constitute the main conflict with the formal protection status of the property;
• Research projects are ongoing, in particular transboundary work on the flagship species snow leopard and argali, studies on reindeer summer habitats, as well as long-term monitoring of ecosystem responses to climate change;
• An increased visitation in selected areas of the property is noted, along with efforts underway to monitor the situation, establish carrying capacity for and minimize the environmental impacts of tourism;
• Progress in improving transboundary cooperation between the Katunsky component and Katon-Karagaysky State National Natural Park in neighboring Kazakhstan includes coordinated management planning and the joint elaboration of a nomination for a transboundary Biosphere Reserve, planned for submission in 2016.

The information provided by the State Party that no further construction work on the gas pipeline has occurred within the property since the suspension of preparatory survey work in 2013 is noted. While the State Party reports that Federal Government Order N° 816-r dated May 2015 repealed the earlier Federal Government Order N° 1416-r, it does not provide any details on the implications of the reported legal change. It should be noted that the text of the Order 816-r, available online on the official internet portal of legislative acts (http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/), not only mentions the Altai gas pipeline, but also states that the project documentation in its sections dealing with environmental impact assessment considers the status of the Golden Mountains of Altai. The official website of Gazprom mentions the signing of a Heads of Agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) for pipeline gas supply from Russia to China via the “Western route” (which is how the Altai route is also referred to) on 8 May 2015. A press release by Gazprom dated 17 December 2015 confirms further discussion and that commercial negotiations would continue in the last two weeks of January 2016.

The World Heritage Centre also received a letter from a group of indigenous peoples who oppose the construction of the pipeline and express their concerns regarding the potential impacts of the project on the Ukok Plateau which is considered a sacred place by the Indigenous peoples of Altai. On 7 April 2016, the World Heritage Centre sent a letter to the State Party requesting clarifications on the above-mentioned letter. No response from the State Party has been received at the time of writing this report. While the State Party confirms that no construction works occurred within the property, it does not report on whether a firm decision has been made to abandon the pipeline project.

Similarly, while the State Party reports that there are no construction plans of any linear infrastructure on the part of the Government of the Altai Republic, the State Party did not report on whether the Decree 212 N 202 dated 2 August 2012 of the Altai Republic, which would permit such projects, was revoked, as requested by the Committee in its Decision 39 COM 7B.21. As the World Heritage Committee has repeatedly noted, a decision to go forward with the project would represent a clear case for inscription of the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger. It is therefore recommended that the Committee reiterate its request to the State Party to make an unequivocal decision to abandon the construction of the Altai gas pipeline through the property, as previously requested in its decisions 33 COM 7B.27, 35 COM 7B.26, 36 COM 7B.25, 37 COM 7B.25 and 39 COM 7B.21.

The renewed commitment of the State Party to follow up on the recommendations of the 2012 mission is welcomed. Further consolidation of the management response to the recommendations is strongly encouraged; in particular as regards the coordination of management among the components of the serial property, adequate staffing, consideration of cultural values, as well as responses to illegal activities and localized impacts of uncontrolled tourism, including from all-terrain vehicles. The intention to nominate a transboundary Biosphere Reserve jointly with Kazakhstan is noted and coordination with the parallel discussion on a possible transboundary World Heritage approach is encouraged.