Island of Saint-Louis

• Lack of a site manager (Issue resolved)
• Lack of monitoring and control mechanism
• Lack of a conservation and management plan (existence of a Safeguarding and Enhancement Plan serving as a Conservation and Management Plan)
• New constructions, architectural modifications and urban projects affecting authenticity and integrity
• Inappropriate housing restoration
• Environmental disorder due to the modification of the mouth of the Senegal River
• Extremely poor state of conservation of numerous derelict buildings endangering occupants

Total amount granted: USD 192,697.13 from the France-UNESCO Cooperation Agreement

On 17 January 2019, the State Party submitted a report on the state of conservation of the property, available at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/956/documents/.  Progress on a number of conservation issues addressed by the Committee at its previous sessions is presented in this report, as follows:

• A new decree of October 2018 replacing that of 2017, extends the powers of the Regional Commission (created in 2017) to review building, rehabilitation, modification and conformity certificates, and to ensure the consistency of the State Party's actions with those of the private partners;
• An inventory of buildings at risk, dated November 2018, will be completed in 2019, particularly for private heritage, by the Saint-Louis Tourism Development Programme (TDP), financed by the French Development Agency (FDA). For this, an architect-urban planner specialized in the architectural heritage of Saint-Louis has been recruited;
• In follow up to the inventory, a 2018-2020 Triennial Priority Rehabilitation Action Plan was developed. The TDP has made available a substantial budget to support the study phase of this action plan;
• An Emergency Fund for the Safeguarding of the Architectural Heritage of Saint-Louis, regrouping the financial contributions of the State and the private sector, was set up in 2018 and included in the draft budget of the 2019-2023 Priority Actions Programme (PAP) of the State;
• The Agency for the Promotion of the Investments and Major Projects (APIX) has been designated Project Manager for the TDP-FDA programme to carry out the activities until the end of 2020. It has premises at the Gouvernance of Saint- Louis to facilitate collaboration with the Regional Commission;
• Major rehabilitation works are underway, notably on the Cathedral and the Grand Mosque, as well as for the protection of the coastline; a tender dossier has been finalized for the Heritage House. Rehabilitation work on Place Faidherbe was launched (December 2018), and most of the diagnostic studies on buildings, public spaces and wharves have resumed;
• Communication will be strengthened in 2019 through the reissue and distribution of earlier good practice brochures for owners and investors with the support of neighborhood councils, neighborhood awareness-raising sessions and local radio programmes;
• An integrated Senegalese coastal management programme has been created, which includes the implementation of a plan to monitor the geomorphological evolution of the mouth of the Senegal River in order to assess potential future threats, and for the conservation of the physical integrity of the soil supporting the property. A firm has been commissioned to carry out the feasibility study;
• Impact studies have been initiated in the framework of World Bank and FDA projects to combat coastal erosion and protect the Langue de Barbarie.

Following the reactive monitoring mission in May 2017, the Committee had commended the State Party's initiatives for better governance and conservation of the property, while making recommendations to address the continued vulnerability of the property. The latest report submitted by the State Party appears to confirm this positive trend in the efforts made as a result of these recommendations.

Compared to previous years, it is commendable that the State Party has focused its efforts on improving the governance of the property, aiming in particular at reducing the multiplicity of participants in its management, by harmonizing it through the creation of the Regional Commission and the development of a Triennial Priority Rehabilitation Action Plan for Saint-Louis. The allocation of premises to APIX within the Gouvernance, favouring collaboration with the Regional Commission, is welcomed. It is also significant that this Commission, supported by a dedicated gendarmerie brigade, has already been able to intervene in 2018 on a number of cases, with the help of several summonses as part of regular checks.

An inventory of the buildings in danger, continued in 2019, which made it possible to set up a three-year Priority Rehabilitation Action Plan, is also welcome, but would benefit from having quantified data on financial needs to guide rehabilitation actions.

The establishment of an Emergency Fund for the Safeguarding of the Architectural Heritage of Saint-Louis is appreciated. However, the State Party does not provide information on the allocation of this Fund, and it is recommended that the State Party develop a fundraising strategy and give it greater visibility.

In addition, the State Party does not provide information on the development of a permanent support team for the architect-urbanist, or on the development and implementation of a monitoring system to record the conditions of the buildings over time, as requested by the Committee in 2017.

Overall, a recovery in the dynamics for the conservation and management of the property is noted, including major projects for its various major components or for the protection of the coast.

Nevertheless, these different actions are today only at the planning stage or at the beginning of operationalization. This does not yet make it possible to measure their impact over time. Thus, the inventory of buildings is still incomplete, and the PAP proposes only preliminary measures, such as consultations, studies and calls for tenders, with no action formulated after August 2019. Similarly, a follow-up plan for the geomorphological evolution of the mouth of the Senegal River is not yet established, and the State Party only provides a pre-report of a feasibility study of the Senegalese Integrated Coastal Management Programme, dating from December 2018, with a view to combating coastal erosion. In the same way, the strengthening of the communication is at its beginnings, with the APIX.

Also of concern are the large-scale projects planned by the State Party and the TDP-FDA project, notably the development of the Grand Mosque, the rehabilitation of the Cathedral, or the requalification and redevelopment of the Places Faidherbe and Pointe-à-Pitre, wharves and embankments.  Indeed, the information provided is insufficient to provide an adequate overview, and it is recommended that the Committee remind the State Party of the urgency to submit all available documentation on these projects, in accordance with paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines and recommendations of the 2017 mission.

Concerning the development of the Great Mosque, the World Heritage Centre sent a letter to the State Party on 9 February 2019, in accordance with paragraph 174 of the Operational Guidelines, following information received from third parties on the progress of the project. In its response of 22 February 2019, the State Party informed of the maintenance of only one minaret, after suppression of work on a second, which was originally planned. This does not lessen the concerns of the 2017 mission with regard to the construction of new imposing minarets and its recommendation to adjust the architectural project to comply with the current regulations set out in the Safeguarding and Enhancement Plan of Saint-Louis (PSMV).

Concerning the long-term management of the property, in spite of significant actions in particular for the follow-up and monitoring of the interventions on the buildings, the Heritage House must again become operational, provided with a manager and a unit dedicated to all the aspects of management, as well as sufficient resources for its mission.