Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor

• Management systems/management plan (Need to implement the timetables for developing detailed management plans; Need for strategies for conservation of component sites; Need for visitor management strategies, including interpretation)
• Impacts of tourism/visitor/recreation
• Urban development (Comparative fragility of many sites)
• Ground transport infrastructure (Proposals for a major road and bridge directly across the Talgar component site in Kazakhstan)
• Housing (Residential development in the buffer zone, near the Talgar Citadel in Kazakhstan)

Total amount granted: UNESCO/Japan FiT project “Support for documentation standards and procedures of the Silk Roads World Heritage Serial and Transnational Nomination in Central Asia” (Phase I, USD 985,073 from 2011 to 2015); UNESCO/Japan FiT project “Support for Silk Roads World Heritage Sites in Central Asia” (Phase II, USD 697,796 from 2015 to 2018)

A joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission visited all eight component sites of the serial property in Kazakhstan (Talgar, Kayalyk, Karamergen, Aktobe, Kulan, Kostobe, and Ornek sites and the Akyrtas archaeological complex) from 31 October to 9 November 2016. The mission report is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1442/documents. Subsequently, the State Party of Kazakhstan submitted a state of conservation report on 1 March 2017 (available at the link above) before the mission report had been received.

Although the 2016 Reactive Monitoring mission noted that a majority of the recommendations put forward by the March 2016 ICOMOS Advisory mission had not been implemented, the report submitted by Kazakhstan shows progress with a number of conservation issues addressed by the Committee at its previous session. The following summary brings together the outcomes of the mission and the information provided by the State Party.

• Talgar Component Site in Kazakhstan :
  • The new road through the component site was formally suspended via a protocol decision by the vice Prime Minister of Kazakhstan of 27 October 2016. However, the mission noted that further works had been undertaken between the 40th session of the Committee and that date;
  • In January 2017, the State Party of Kazakhstan submitted five possible alternative routes; while none went through the property, all crossed its Buffer Zone. In April 2017, an ICOMOS Technical Review was sent to Kazakhstan, which noted that all five options would have potentially negative impacts on the component site’s contribution to the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the serial transnational property. The report of the Reactive Monitoring mission also concluded that these proposals were not in line with Decision 40 COM 7B.34, which requested the State Party to explore other routes outside the boundaries of the Talgar component site and its Buffer Zone, both of which are already protected from major development by national heritage legislation and by the Deputy Prime-Minister of Kazakhstan’s order, in October 2016, to develop a bypass road without affecting the Buffer Zone;
  • The Reactive Monitoring mission therefore recommended that a new route be developed beyond the buffer zone, that the heavy damage inflicted by the road work on the archaeological site be restored, and that the partially constructed bridge over the Talgar River be dismantled, as requested by the Committee. The mission also noted that the archaeological fabric had undergone significant reconstruction and recommended that this be halted and a reconstruction project submitted for review. It further requested that the damaging uncontrolled and illegal residential development in the buffer zone be halted, and that a new Master Plan for the wider area be developed;
• Other Component Sites in Kazakhstan:
  • Road Construction: The Reactive Monitoring mission noted that considerable threats to the OUV would arise from high-speed roads passing through or near components sites. Part of the territories of the archaeological sites and buffer zones in Aktobe and Kulan are already cut off by the Western Europe-Western China highway and Kayalyk is under threat from a project to widen the strategic Almaty-Ust-Kamenogorsk road, which, if implemented, would cause significant damage to the site. For Kostobe, there is a plan to build a two-lane paved road with parking and other tourist facilities in the Buffer Zone, and in Akyrtas, construction of a new two-lane paved road crossing the site and its buffer zone is progressing at a rapid pace;
  • Development: The mission noted that many urban development projects proposed within the sites could represent threats to the OUV of the property;
  • Reconstruction: At Aktobe, the mission noted that the Citadel has undergone strengthening with backfill, thus changing its geometry, and that parts of the site had been ‘reconstructed’ for tourists. In Akyrtas, reconstruction had also been undertaken over the past year;
  • Management Plans, Governance and Resources: The mission recommended the development of management plans for all eight component sites of the serial property in Kazakhstan, as requested by the Committee at its 38th and 40th sessions, which should be submitted by 1 December 2017. Other recommendations included the establishment of a Kazakh National Steering Committee and the development of effective coordination with China and Kyrgyzstan for the overall serial transnational property. The State Party of Kazakhstan reported that resources have been allocated in 2017 for the preparation of management plans for the eight component sites and for improvements to monitoring;
  • Conservation: The Reactive Monitoring mission noted the need for improved conservation, underpinned by additional academic and archaeological research, to control The State Party of Kazakhstan indicated that funds have been allocated in 2017 for cultural heritage and archaeological studies. It also noted that, while international assistance provided through the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust project is not currently coordinated by the Ministry of Sports and Culture of Kazakhstan, it will be in the future;
  • Boundaries: The mission reported the urgent need for a clarification of the component sites’ boundaries, as they do not match what was set out at the time of inscription, nor do they coincide with national protective designations. The State Party of Kazakhstan has reported that funds have been made available to prepare detailed maps;
  • Legal Framework: The mission recommended improving the legal protection for all eight component sites of the serial property in Kazakhstan. The State Party reports that a revised version of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On the protection and use of objects of historical and cultural heritage" is planned for 2018;
  • Awareness raising: The State Party of Kazakhstan reports that for 2017-18, funds have been allocated to define the tourism potential of the component sites.

Talgar Component Site in Kazakhstan:

The November 2016 Reactive Monitoring mission noted that the Committee requested the State Party of Kazakhstan to halt any further road construction, but construction did not stop until October 2016, allowing the archaeological site to suffer further damage. Furthermore, none of the recommendations of the 2016 ICOMOS Advisory mission concerning the road issues have been followed, which suggests that the management structures at the component site and their links and coordination with national agencies, the Ministries of Kazakhstan and other States Parties involved in the Silk Roads World Heritage property need to be greatly strengthened. Additionally, the five options for a bypass road put forward by the State Party in January 2017 would also have negative impacts on the component site.

The construction of the road and the associated bridge has inflicted serious damage on the historic structures and archaeological layers of the Talgar site and its overall morphology. The site has also suffered from reconstruction work and illegal, uncontrolled residential developments near its boundaries. All of this implies that the state of conservation of the site has deteriorated sharply since its inscription in 2014, despite the existing national legal protection for both the component site and its Buffer Zone. It is therefore recommended that the Committee express its deep concern that the damage has reached levels that put the site and the overall property under threat, and that it endorse the recommendations of the 2016 Reactive Monitoring mission and emphasize that new options should be developed for the Birlik-Almalyk-Kazstroy-Ryskulov-Ak-Bulak road beyond the territory of the component site and its Buffer Zone. Furthermore, the Committee may wish to request that reconstruction work and illegal residential development work be halted, that the bridge be dismantled, and that remedial measures be developed urgently to strengthen the overall legal, planning and management frameworks of the site and its setting.

Other Component Sites in Kazakhstan:

Concerning road construction and development, it is recommended that the Committee also express its deep concern that road construction has already been carried out at Aktobe and Kulan, causing significant damage to the sites, and that Kayalyk, Akyrtas and Kostobe are threatened by planned or ongoing road construction.

There is also deep concern that in all sites except Karamergen, threats arising from urban development (e.g. administrative and sporting centres, industrial utilities and waste landfill sites) impact adversely on the perception of the sites in relation to the Silk Roads and the beauty of their settings. In the case of Kulan, it is recommended that the Committee request the State Party of Kazakhstan to take immediate action to halt the implementation of the Master Plan of Kulan, any other development on private land, and to clarify land ownership status. It must be noted that no information on any of these road or development projects was submitted at the time of inscription in 2014, nor has any information been submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies since then.

The absence of Management Plans for all component sites and their landscape settings needs to be addressed urgently, as deadlines set by the Committee at the time of inscription and at subsequent sessions have not been met. Concomitantly, unclear boundaries, the absence of a comprehensive legal protection, inappropriate development and the construction of infrastructure projects, have put the sites under both ascertained and potential threat.

The majority of the recommendations put forward by the 2016 Advisory Mission have not been implemented, nor have the Committee’s requests from the 40th session relating to the protection and management of the property. Urgent reviews are now needed and, in the meantime, all work should be halted while the full extent of the existing damage is detailed and the full potential impacts of the projects are assessed.

Overall, it is recommended that the Committee further express its concern that most of these component sites in Kazakhstan have been impacted so adversely in a comparatively short space of time since inscription and that the state of conservation of these sites now represents a potential threat to the integrity of the overall serial transnational property.

Finally, it should be recalled that at the time of inscription, the great strength of the Silk Roads serial transnational property was the existence of an Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee (ICC), established prior to the nomination, in May 2009. For the Chang’an-Tianshan corridor, the formal agreement between all the participating States Parties (China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan) was signed in May 2012 and a more detailed agreement was signed in February 2014. This arrangement refined the management mechanisms and set out suggestions for exchange and collaboration on conservation, interpretation, presentation and publicity as a means of working towards coordinated approaches for all sites along the heritage corridor. International collaboration needs to be strongly supported by national collaboration, and thus the challenge to better protect and manage the serial transnational World Heritage property lies in the coordination at both national and transnational levels. It is therefore recommended that the Committee request the State Party of Kazakhstan to establish a World Heritage Steering Committee for the Silk Roads in Kazakhstan and develop effective coordination with China and Kyrgyzstan for the management of the overall serial property through the existing agreements and arrangement.