Ngorongoro Conservation Area

• Geothermal energy development project (issue resolved)
• Buildings and Development (potential impact of lodge development project on the crater rim, proposed museum building at Laetoli)
• Transportation infrastructure (impact of project for upgrading Lodoare Gate to Golini Main Road, construction of the southern bypass road and access road to Olduvai museum)
• Biological resource use/modification (poaching, grazing pressure)
• Social/cultural uses of heritage (relevance of Maasai traditional knowledge to management of the area, increased human population, tourism pressure, challenges facing community livelihoods)
• Invasive/alien species (spread of invasive species)
• Management System/Management Plan (including governance of the property and community involvement/collaboration, condition and conservation of the Laetoli hominid footprints

Totam amount provided to the property: USD 50,000 from Switzerland, USD 35,000 from the Netherlands, USD 20,000 from the United Nations Development Assistance Plan (UNDAP) and USD 8,000 self-benefitting funds from the United Republic of Tanzania in 2013-2014; USD 50,000 from the Flanders Funds-in-Trust in 2014-2015

On 8 February 2021, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, a summary of which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/39/documents/. The report includes a work plan for the implementation of the recommendations of the 2017 ICOMOS/IUCN Advisory mission, the 2019 World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission and the World Heritage Committee Decision 43 COM 7B.39, amongst other updates, summarised as follows:

• No poaching incidents were recorded at the property. The budget for community awareness on conservation saw a small increase in 2019, with awareness-raising workshops held in 2020 and community-based beekeeping and agricultural activities (outside the property) supported;
• The State Party restates the selection of the Mbulu route as identified through the feasibility study of the southern bypass road;
• Works on the upgrading of the Lodoare Gate to Golini main road through the property have been suspended because of financial constraint linked to the drop in tourism numbers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Detailed pre-construction surveys and studies, included in the supervision and construction contracts, will be undertaken before site works begin and will be submitted when the project resumes;
• A framework for enhanced stakeholder engagement, integrated policies and guidance on tourism carrying capacity and monitoring and enforcement measures are to be included in a multiple land use model (MLUM), which will also review voluntary resettlement schemes;
• Mechanisms for traffic monitoring, including regulation of speed and driving behaviour will be developed when the Lodoare Gate to Golini route road project resumes;
• A digital database of cultural sites, archaeological sites and attributes in the property is operational;
• The Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) has established a monitoring and evaluation unit to monitor compliance with the impact assessment studies and assist in maintaining the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property;
• All projects undertaken or planned within the property are subject to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA). A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) will be undertaken when the financial situation improves;
• The draft General Management Plan (GMP) will be finalized in consultation with stakeholders by July 2021.

An expert meeting on the conservation of the Laetoli footprints and the museum project was held at UNESCO, Paris, in March 2019, with representatives of the State Party, the World Heritage Centre, ICOMOS and ICCROM. The State Party reports that an update on implementation of recommendations concerning the Laetoli Footprints will be provided to the World Heritage Centre in December 2021.

On 24 January 2020, the World Heritage Centre sent a letter to the State Party regarding a four-zone Management and Resettlement Plan developed as a response to the 2019 mission, and which, according to the third-party information, would marginalize the land rights of the local communities. No response has been received at the time of writing this report.

On 12 May 2021, the World Heritage Centre and IUCN were sent copies of a letter from Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI) to the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, regarding what were stated to be the impending eviction of 73,000 indigenous pastoralists from the property. The World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies met with both the State Party and IPRI. The State Party stated that the eviction of 73,000 pastoralists is not planned but confirmed the increasing challenges of ensuring the conservation values of the property in the light of increased resident populations since the creation of the conservation area. The State Party further reiterated its commitment to identify adequate solutions to this issue.

Welcome progress has been reported by the State Party including continued engagement with local communities and the establishment of a digital database and a monitoring and evaluation unit within NCAA. The development of an EIA/HIA compliance monitoring tool for this unit as recommended by the 2019 mission is positive, and it will be important that it is utilised by all relevant stakeholders.  

The submission of a work plan for the implementation of the 2017 and 2019 mission recommendations and previous Committee Decisions is acknowledged. The workplan indicates that there are significant delays in the implementation of some of the mission recommendations and certain recommendations  are either not addressed in detail  or require further work and clarification, including a Cultural Heritage Conservation Strategy, reconsideration of the current compartmentalized approach to governance and an Interpretation Strategy.

The reported absence of poaching since the previous report is welcome. However, it is unclear to which species this statement applies. Also, no information is provided on the efforts to control the spread of invasive alien plants.

In relation to the two road projects, there is an urgent need for the feasibility study for the southern bypass route to be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies as urged by the Committee in Decision 43 COM 7B.39, including maps of the considered route options. The suspension of the works on the Lodoare – Golini road through the property is noted and it is important to reiterate the need to implement all the 2017 Advisory mission recommendations, including the development of an action plan to manage road use, and the submission of the results of archaeological investigations and baseline ecological and environmental data before starting any construction. 

The February 2021 ICOMOS/ICCROM technical review of the EIA and Cultural HIA for the Laetoli Hominin Footprints Museum concluded that there will be considerable impact on the OUV of the property from any construction near the footprints and from the proposed science/education centre site some 6km away, and recommended that a clearer conservation approach needs to be defined for the footprint site and for the overall archaeological landscape before any decisions are made. The review reiterated the recommendation of the March 2019 expert meeting that the State Party focus on exploring different conservation approaches before consideration of a detailed museum project.

It is important that the finalisation of the GMP ensures consultations with local communities, including opportunities to fully understand its proposals and provide meaningful input to its content, and free, prior, informed consent as appropriate of local stakeholders and rightsholders. No clarity on progress is given for developing integrated policies and guidelines on interpretation strategy, tourism carrying capacity and monitoring framework, recommended by the 2019 mission. It is recommended that the Committee request the State Party to submit the draft GMP to the World Heritage Centre for review before final approval, together with the complementary material requested in Committee Decision 43 COM 7B.39. The State Party should also be requested to report on the current status of agricultural development in the property.

The World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies note the confirmation by the State Party that no large-scale evictions of residents are being planned but reiterate their concern on the continued conflicts with the communities living in the property as well as the increasing pressure on the OUV as a result of the steep increase in the number of people residing in the property since its inscription. The World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies reiterate the need for a consultative process to identify long-term sustainable solutions to address these issues, with participation of all rightsholders and stakeholders, consistent with international norms and the policies of the Convention.

The State Party should be requested to submit the review of MLUM to the World Heritage Centre for comments by the Advisory Bodies. In the context of the complex history of this property in relation to challenging and fragile harmony between conservation and communities, relating to increasing numbers of people living in the property, there is an urgent need to review the effectiveness of the MLUM, the proposed voluntary resettlement scheme, and the zonation of the property in relation to competing requirements, and identify long-term interdisciplinary solutions based on international best practice through dialogue and in consultation with relevant rightsholders and other stakeholders. It is recommended that the State Party invite an Advisory mission by the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies as an opportunity for dialogue with all relevant rightsholders and stakeholders including the local indigenous communities and the International Indigenous Peoples Forum for World Heritage (IIPFWH) to review the above, to consider whether the current approaches are sufficient to address these crucial issues, and to provide advice on.

While recognising the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is unfortunate that the requested SEA has been deferred. Taking note of the concerns raised by the 2019 mission of the cumulative and gradual intensification of threats to the OUV, the SEA will serve as a valuable tool to evaluate the current and future impacts of developments across all sectors in the region, including the property and the Serengeti ecosystem, so that the findings can inform management.