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)

On 23 January 2020, the States Parties of China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan submitted a joint state of conservation report, available at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1442/documents/, which addresses the Committee’s previous decisions as follows:

• The three States Parties have continued coordination efforts, facilitated by the ICOMOS International Conservation Centre in Xi’an (IICC-X, China), which acts as the Secretariat of the Coordinating Committee on Serial Transnational World Heritage Nomination of the Silk Roads. This cooperation includes contributions to the development of laws and regulations, strengthening of monitoring and heritage conservation, and collaboration on the joint state of conservation report. Work on presentation and interpretation continues, along with improved tourism services and infrastructure. Representatives of all three States Parties participated in regional capacity-building workshops in Xi’an, China (July 2019) and the 6th meeting of the Silk Roads Coordinating Committee in Hamadan, Iran (September 2019), which discussed better coordination of protection and management of the property;
• In China, increasing visitation is being addressed through protective measures: studies to establish carrying capacities, live monitoring of visitor numbers, a visitor booking system, off-peak tours, and measures to divert visitors from popular sites. Three component sites face development pressures, one particularly from villages within the property boundaries and buffer zones;
• In Kazakhstan, work continues to update the Law on the Protection and Use of Historical and Cultural Heritage Sites. No final decision has been made regarding the bridge in Talgar, where construction is suspended. Planned road construction will bypass the protective/buffer zones of both Talgar and Kayalyk. The construction of an asphalt road for Akyrtas, in the buffer zone, has been completed and was subject to a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA);
• In Kyrgyzstan, new technologies enable monitoring and help optimize data collection and research activities. Development pressures near the buffer zone of the ancient settlement of Krasnaya Rechka are currently under review by the State Agency for the Protection of Monuments. Plans for infrastructure work at the ancient settlements of Burana and Krasnaya Rechka are in development, with ongoing coordination between government agencies. Once financial issues are resolved, the State Party intends to submit plans to the World Heritage Committee for approval.

The IICC-X and the International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST), a category 2 centre under the auspices of UNESCO, are collaborating with the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS, Uzbekistan) to apply space technology applications to monitor the current state of conservation of all 33 component sites of the property. In the framework of this cooperation, scientific research can ensure better protection and management of the Silk Roads cultural heritage.

The World Heritage Centre received an HIA for the re-development and enlargement of Xi’an Railway Station, located in the buffer zone of the Daming Palace component, from the State Party of China on 17 August 2020. Following several exchanges between the State Party, the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS, including an on-line consultation meeting on 15 December 2020, an ICOMOS Technical Review on the proposed project was transmitted to the State Party on 11 February 2021.

Continued progress has been made with research, interpretation, stakeholder involvement and monitoring of the property, through public outreach activities that aim to better understand how individual component sites relate to the overall Chang’an-Tianshan corridor and the wider Silk Roads network. The States Parties jointly contribute to the development of laws and regulations and the preparation and improvement of management plans. However, management plans for the component sites and their landscape settings in Kazakhstan do not appear to have been completed yet.

The States Parties have made full use of the Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee for the Silk Roads World Heritage nomination (ICC) and its Secretariat based at the IICC-X, and it is recommended that the Committee acknowledge this progress and encourage continued efforts in this regard.

It is welcome that the 22 component sites in China are reportedly well monitored and that the majority benefit from conservation master plans and national and local regulations. However, increasing visitation remain concerning, including annual increases of over 70%, although the State Party has responded by conducting new carrying capacity studies. Post-COVID-19 regulations may require the carrying capacities to be further reviewed at all component sites.

The information provided by the State Party of Kazakhstan regarding the bypass route at Talgar is noted, especially the halt to construction and the tentative new delineation of the Birlik-Akbulak Road bypassing all protective zones of the Talgar settlement. No decision has been made yet regarding the dismantling of the bridge partially constructed across the Talgar River in 2016, which was requested by the Committee in Decision 40 COM 7B.34. The Committee should reiterate its request that, before any commitment is made or any work undertaken, more detailed plans of all proposals should be provided to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies, showing the precise route of the road, the location of the new bridge and any demolition or new construction, in one of the two working languages of the Committee (i.e. English or French).

The State Program for the Development of the Tourism Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan foresees the development of tourism resources to improve the accessibility of sites, the management and monitoring systems, and by “creating a favourable tourist climate […] [and] an effective system for promoting the country's tourism potential in the domestic and international markets”. Construction of an asphalt road at the Akyrtas component site regrettably occurred without prior submission of documentation to the World Heritage Centre, and the impact assessment submitted subsequently has not followed the approach outlined in the 2011 ICOMOS Guidance on Heritage Impact Assessments for Cultural World Heritage Properties.

It is also regrettable that the State Party of China did not submit the proposal for re-developing and enlarging the Xi’an Railway Station at an earlier stage, to avert or mitigate adverse impacts on the setting of the Daming Palace component, as detailed in the ICOMOS Technical Review. Had the HIA been prepared earlier and been submitted to the World Heritage Centre with proposed designs, this project might have been amended to avoid its adverse impacts on the setting of the Daming Palace site. However, at this late stage, when construction work is already underway and the project is due for completion in July 2021, it is not feasible to recommend changes that might mitigate the adverse impacts in any meaningful way. It is recommended that the Committee remind the States Parties of the provisions of Paragraphs 118bis and 172 of the Operational Guidelines regarding any major restoration or new construction which may affect the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, and that such plans, including assessment of potential impacts on the property’s OUV, should be submitted as soon as possible and before making any decision that would be difficult to reverse. In the case of this serial transnational property, it is recommended that coordination should also be sought through the ICC.

The State Party of Kyrgyzstan’s efforts to address development issues in the buffer zones of the Ak-Beshim and Krasnaya Rechka settlements are noted. It is recommended that the Committee strongly encourage the inscription of the boundaries and buffer zones of all inscribed component sites on cadastral maps.

The use of new technologies to monitor Silk Roads sites is strongly encouraged, particularly in view of the size and remoteness of some components. The cooperation of IICC-X, HIST and IICAS to apply the use of space technologies to monitor and assess the state of conservation of the property is therefore welcomed, and it is recommended that the Committee encourage the States Parties to share good practice examples on the use of new technologies, including for dissemination via the World Heritage Centre’s website.

Finally, as better protection and management of this serial transnational World Heritage property requires coordination at both national and transnational levels, it is 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.