Iguaçu National Park

• Impacts of tourism / visitor / recreation
• Water infrastructure (construction of a hydropower dam)
• Ground transport infrastructure (draft law and pressure to re-open an illegal road)
• Illegal logging and hunting (issue resolved)
• Governance (lack of transboundary cooperation, uncoordinated development)
• Lack of sustainable financing (issue resolved)
• Management systems/ management plan (issues associated with public use and lack of a public use plan)

Total amount granted to the property: USD 50,000 under the Brazilian World Heritage Biodiversity Programme for fire fighting planning

On 4 December 2017, the State Party submitted a report on the state of conservation of the property, which is available at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/355/documents/ and provides the following information:

• The revision of the management plan for the property has been completed and the new plan is currently going through an approval process expected to be completed by mid-2018;
• The Colono Road remains closed and the Bill approved by the House of Representatives in 2013 proposing its reopening has not been evaluated in the Senate nor is there any proposed schedule to discuss it. The Brazilian Federal Government remains opposed to the Bill and in case it gets approved by the Senate, the President would have the power to veto it;
• The Baixo Iguaçu hydropower dam is currently in its installation phase. The authorization process for the dam took into account the assessment of impacts on the property and its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) oversaw the preparation and approval of work plans for the dam and their compliance with the criteria outlined in the Environmental Authorization. Based on the impacts assessment, a number of requirements were identified for the dam’s operation, including establishment of a joint operation rule between Baixo Iguaçu and the existing Salto Caxias dam aimed at mitigating water level oscillation currently present and caused by the operation of Salto Caxias, as well as increasing the minimum water flow. A number of monitoring programmes and a National Action Plan for the conservation of endangered aquatic species of the Baixo Iguaçu basin have been developed in collaboration with the company responsible for the hydropower project;
• Monitoring of key species has been ongoing and an increase in the population of jaguar in the area of the property and the neighbouring Iguazú National Park in Argentina has been observed in recent years;
• Joint activities with the Iguazú National Park in Argentina have been ongoing for several years, including species monitoring, patrolling, as well as cooperation around the recent revision of the management plans of the two parks;
• A technical cooperation agreement was signed between ICMBio, the National Parks Administration (APN) of Argentina and cooperation agencies in Argentina and Brazil, which is aimed at strengthening the capacity of APN and ICMBio in the planning and management of protected areas. However, the agreement currently does not provide for any specific actions in the Iguaçu/Iguazú region.

The information provided by the State Party with regards to the Baixo Iguaçu hydropower project is noted, including the affirmation that potential impacts on the OUV of the property have been considered in the authorization process. However, it should be recalled that the World Heritage Committee requested the State Party to submit this specific assessment of potential impacts on the OUV of the property to the World Heritage Centre for review by IUCN. While some general information was included in the State Party’s report, no such detailed assessment was provided.

The development of specific operational requirements, which would ensure that impacts on water flow from existing dams on the Iguaçu River would be mitigated by the operation of the new dam, and the development of monitoring programmes and action plans for conservation of aquatic fauna are noted. It will, however, be important to ensure that the implementation and effectiveness of these measures is closely monitored, to ensure the mitigation of the identified negative impacts on the OUV of the property, and that cooperation with the State Party of Argentina is established to address these issues. It is therefore recommended that the World Heritage Committee request the State Party to ensure that a comprehensive overall monitoring system to monitor the impacts of the project is in place, both for aquatic fauna and for water flow. The State Party should be requested to submit a preliminary analysis of the effectiveness of these measures with its next report to the World Heritage Committee. 

While it is noted that the situation with the Colono Road has not changed and that the State Party remains opposed to the Bill 61/2013 approved by the House of Representatives in 2013 to reopen the road, it should be recalled the World Heritage Committee considered that the situation where the Bill remains pending continues to represent a potential threat to the property. It is recommended that the Committee reiterate its concern in this regard, and that it request the State Party to inform the World Heritage Centre as soon as the proposed Bill is scheduled to be evaluated by the Senate, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines.

Increased cooperation with the neighbouring Iguazú National Park property in Argentina should be welcomed and the Committee is recommended to request the States Parties of Argentina and Brazil continue these transnational efforts with regards to the management of the two adjacent properties. It is also recommended that the Committee request the two States Parties to clarify whether additional cooperative actions are planned following the signing of a letter of intent between Administración de Parques Nacionales de Argentina, ICMBio, the Iguaçu National Park in Brazil and the Iguazú National Park in Argentina in 2016, which was welcomed by the Committee in its Decisions 40 COM 7B.69 and 40 COM 7B.70.