Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley

• Commercial development
• Ground transport infrastructure
• Housing
• Others (Risk of collapse of the Giant Buddha niches; Irreversible deterioration of the mural paintings)

• Site security not ensured
• Long-term stability of the Giant Buddha niches not ensured
• State of conservation of archaeological remains and mural paintings not adequate
• Management Plan and Cultural Master Plan (the protective zoning plan) not implemented

Adopted, see page https://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1287

Adopted, see page https://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1287 

Adopted, see page https://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1593

Total amount granted: USD 7,324,120 (2003-2018) from the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust; USD 159,000 (2011-2012) from the UNESCO/Switzerland Funds-in-Trust; USD 6,845,121 (2013-2021) from the UNESCO/Italy Funds-in-Trust; USD 7,336,166 (2013-2019) from UNESCO/Republic of Korea Funds-in Trust; USD 1,500,000 (2017-2026) from the Government of Afghanistan; USD 3.8 million from the Japanese Government for the project ‘Sustainable Management of the Property - Preparing the Removal of Bamiyan from the List of World Heritage in Danger’ (2020-2022)

On 30 January 2020, the State Party submitted a report on the state of conservation of the property, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/208/documents/ and provides updated information on the implementation of the Committee’s previous decisions, as follows:

• Consultations on the Bamiyan Cultural Master Plan (CMP) were organized with local stakeholders in 2019 through the ongoing UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust project and by the State Party. The CMP was previously approved by the Afghan Ministry of Urban Development in 2006. The meetings raised awareness of heritage management among local community members and allowed to assess the level of integration between the Cultural Master Plan and the City Master Plan;
• Monitoring and coordination efforts have been deployed by the central and local authorities to prevent development, and especially housing development, at historical sites;
• The Ministry of Interior Affairs employed specialised police officers for the protection of the property components within the Bamiyan Valley, with the aim of controlling illegal or unauthorized access to the sites;
• As part of its report, the State Party submitted a ‘Draft Action Plan concerning the Future Treatment of the Buddha Niches and the Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley’. In this draft Action Plan, the Technical Working Committee (TWC) considers that all four proposals concerning the reconstruction of eastern Buddha niche discussed at the Tokyo meeting in 2017 need to be studied further by considering similar cases at World Heritage properties around the world, while also expressing its intention to invite further proposals. The TWC recommends further investigation into the potential impacts of any proposed reconstruction at the World Heritage property and strongly suggests that priority be given to the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger;
• Further to the consolidation of parts of Shahr-i-Gholghola, a joint mission by a UNESCO expert and a national expert from Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC) was organized in 2019. The MoIC hopes to continue consolidation works from 2020 onwards, with support from UNESCO and the international community;
• The State Party indicates that it does not have sufficient financial resources to implement conservation activities at each of the eight component sites spread out along the valley and requires continued assistance from UNESCO and the international community to do so.

The State Party also submitted to the World Heritage Centre, as per the Committee’s previous request, the Strategic Master Plan (SMP) for Bamiyan, finalized in 2018 with the support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and Florence University (Italy) and endorsed by the President of Afghanistan, for review by the Advisory Bodies. Details on the traffic plan and bypass road project, requested at earlier sessions, were provided in November 2019.

The World Heritage Centre received third-party information in June 2020, reporting the completion of the road construction at Tepe Almas, in the vicinity of Sharh-i-Gholghola. Information was provided to the World Heritage Centre in July 2020 and the ICOMOS Technical Review on the road construction and the SMP were transmitted to the State Party on 27 July 2020.

The steps taken by the State Party to ensure due consultations with relevant stakeholders, including local communities, are welcome. It is recommended that the Committee acknowledge this fact and strongly encourage the State Party to continue such outreach activities and inscribe consultation mechanisms as a permanent component of the management system.

The July 2020 ICOMOS Technical Review of the SMP advises that several aspects should be discussed and integrated into a further revised version of the document, such as the concept of cultural landscape, community engagement, or the revision of the buffer zones. In its July 2020 Technical Review of the road from Dasht-e Isa Khan to Gholghola Bazaar, ICOMOS indicates that the project would have an adverse impact on the setting of the component site of Shahr-i-Gholghola and advises that aspects such as archaeology be further investigated and a detailed traffic and road hierarchy plan created. The Committee may wish to remind the State Party of Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines regarding the submission of complete technical documentation to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies.

The suggestion by the TWC in the Action Plan to prioritize the removal of Bamiyan from the List of World Heritage in Danger over reconstruction efforts should be noted with satisfaction. To this end, the ICOMOS Technical Review of the Action Plan suggests revisions to the Action Plan in order to clarify the required actions for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger and to ensure that the technical assignments foreseen through the operational projects are aligned with the requirements of the Desired state of conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger (DSOCR), approved by the Committee in Decision 31 COM 7A.21. Overall, it is recommended that the Committee welcome the steps taken towards the establishment of the Action Plan to achieve the Desired state of conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger (DSOCR) and recommend close consultation with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies to agree on all the necessary work to finalize the Action Plan along with a timeline to achieve its full implementation.

It is recommended that the Committee express its appreciation of the substantial new funding provided by Japan (USD 3.8 million), aiming at supporting the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger. The Committee may also encourage all stakeholders to make full use of the support provided via this project to develop a costed Action Plan. Details of the technical assignments and work plan foreseen by the project funded by Japan should be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies, and the project should be implemented so as to strengthen the active involvement of the Afghan authorities and foster a sense of ownership towards the various ongoing processes at the property.

Security measures and the coherence of management frameworks are dependent on the State Party’s perennial commitment to planning and its demonstrated capability to ensure these conditions. It should be noted that the permanent deployment of on-site guards for all components of the property remains vital for site security, and the State Party’s actions to ensure this important element of the DSOCR should be welcomed.

As was pointed out in earlier reports to the Committee, the successful management of the property is dependent on self-sufficient funding for all heritage-related activities. Therefore, it is recommended that the Committee encourage again the State Party to prepare a long-term strategy to ensure that the necessary resources for the most important operations are continuously available.

As 2021 marks the tragic 20th anniversary of the destruction of Buddha statues in Bamiyan (see https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2253), the Committee may wish to reaffirm its support to the Afghan people and reinforce its commitment to stand together in protecting and safeguarding our shared cultural heritage. The Committee may also wish to call upon the international community to provide further technical and financial support in order to assist the State Party in achieving the DSOCR for the property.

Finally, it should be noted that, despite earlier requests, no information was provided on the progress and planned use of the Bamiyan Cultural Centre. The Committee may therefore wish to strongly encourage the State Party to use this on-site facility to enhance the interpretation of the World Heritage property, providing information on its tangible as well as associative heritage values.