Town of Luang Prabang

• Lack of enforcement of the Luang Prabang Conservation Plan (PSMV) and illegal constructions
• Public works (proposed new town, airport extension, pedestrian bridge) which may affect the Outstanding Universal Value

Total amount provided to the property: USD 200,000 (France / UNESCO Cooperation Agreement).

The State Party provided a report on the state of conservation of the property on 28 January 2022, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/479/documents and indicates the following:

• The development plan of Luang Prabang World Heritage Site and the provincial development strategy guide the implementation of major projects within the property and its buffer zones, and projects are being implemented to improve infrastructure and promote the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property in accordance with the regulations;
• The management authority of Luang Prabang is undertaking feasibility studies to improve infrastructure and aimed at preserving the OUV, noting that funding is needed for conducting heritage impact assessments for seeking the World Heritage Centre’s recommendations prior to projects’ implementation;
• Concerning the state of conservation of attributes which support OUV, the State Party reports that 611 significant buildings are inventoried in the property, and that it has been reaching out to various stakeholders, including through educational activities and the implementation of the Luang Prabang Conservation Plan (“Plan de sauvegarde et mise en valeur”, hereafter PSMV).
• Since 1995, 339 inventoried buildings (55% of the total) have been renovated, 257 buildings (42%) have not been renovated, and 15 uninhabited buildings (2%) were demolished due to their poor condition and must be rebuilt according to their original characteristics. 32 buildings (5%) remain dilapidated and in need of being urgently repaired;
• With regard to the Integrated Tourism Management plan, the State Party recognizes the need to align the current tourism activities with the preservation needs of the property and requests financial and technical assistance from the World Heritage Centre and the World Heritage Fund in conducting necessary studies and activities for this purpose;
• The Nam Khanh Riverbank project, an emergency operation following the natural disaster in 2016, prevents erosion of the riverbanks and damage to buildings in the area. Operations on two points were implemented from 2018 to 2020, allowing the natural growth of vegetation and contributing to the safety and security of the Town;
• For the Luang Prabang Hydropower Project (LPHPP), the authorities have instructed the project developer to conduct a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) in accordance with the regulations and World Heritage Centre's guidelines;
• The report ‘State of Conservation of Luang Prabang: 2014-2020’ provides an overview of the activities conducted by the authorities in a variety of the fields for the preservation of the property.

The State Party submitted the Nam Khan Bridge Project in November 2021 for review by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS. The ICOMOS technical review recommended that a full HIA be carried out and that the design be revised. The State Party resubmitted documentation for the Mekong and Nam Khan Riverbank Protection project in October 2022 and a further ICOMOS technical review was provided in January 2023. The State Party responded in May 2023.

As requested by the World Heritage Committee in Decision 44 COM 7B.32, the State Party invited a joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission to the property, which took place from 4 to 9 April 2022.

On 8 December 2022, referring to the recommendations of the final report of the abovementioned mission and other elements provided by various sources including civil society in neighbouring countries, the United Nations in Lao PDR addressed a letter to the President of National Assembly expressing its concern over the LPHPP’s possible impacts on cultural, social and economic situations of the property and in a wider zone.

Revised sets of the HIA on the LPHPP were sent to the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS in December 2022 and January 2023, but the State Party announced with a new letter of 9 March 2023 its intention to commission a new HIA to comply with the previous requests from the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, by engaging an independent group of experts including heritage professionals.

The Luang Prabang World Heritage Office was merged as of May 2023 into the provincial office of the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.

The State Party has implemented a range of activities in preservation, education and monitoring, as reported in the state of conservation report and in its Annex ‘State of Conservation of Luang Prabang: 2014-2020’.

The April 2022 Reactive Monitoring mission conducted in-depth analysis of the property’s preservation, governance and development projects. Although the mission recognized that the physical attributes, such as townscape and architectural features, are substantively intact, they remain fragile and at risk, and other attributes of OUV, in particular natural, environmental and intangible features of the property and its setting are threatened by numerous factors and require strong measures to address potential threats.

Out of a total of 611, 142 buildings within the property should be given immediate priority, and a contingency plan is needed for buildings that are beyond repair. Affordable materials and traditional repair and maintenance techniques are essential, and a mechanism is needed to guarantee their availability. Ecological attributes of OUV, such as ponds and wetlands in urban spaces, should be rehabilitated and maintained. Beyond the physical conservation, the integration of intangible attributes into the management policies and practices is necessary to maintain the town’s urban fabric as a living entity.

The PSMV provides, through the services of the Luang Prabang World Heritage Office (LPWHO), the primary framework to regulate the built assets within the property and its buffer zones, and its integration with the Provincial Strategic Plan and Urban Plan is effective. However, the PSMV framework and its provisions require updating. Such a revision should engage comprehensively with all of the attributes supporting OUV, including the sub-categories of ‘Civil Buildings’, as well as the principles of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape, including reflection on the notion of authenticity in the context of living heritage town, where replacement of defective historic fabric is a necessary maintenance activity.

The proposed regular updating of the inventories of attributes based on GIS should support this revision process, allowing an understanding of the evolution of major attributes, including modern buildings, river embankments and water levels, and thereby informing appropriate policy formulation. In addition, the mission suggested adjustments to the sub-categories of recognised architecture to include modern forms of architecture previously excluded or not itemized in the inventory, and the monitoring and active management of landscapes, particularly the riverbank morphology and water-related information. New funding from France through the World Heritage Centre as well as assistance from the Asian Development Bank has contributed to the updating of PSMV and GIS data and the organization of several workshops in 2022 and 2023 associating the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS experts.

The State Party is strongly advised to proceed carefully with ongoing and future development and international cooperation projects by considering their direct, indirect and cumulative impacts on the attributes supporting OUV and their consistency with and degree of contribution to the objectives of preservation of the property and its buffer zones. This approach requires proactive planning with in-depth understanding of cultural, social and environmental attributes of the OUV to make heritage preservation and development initiatives compatible and mutually sustaining. In this regard, the mission has suggested adjustments to the riverbank protection projects and identified options for changes to the Nam Kham River bridge project, having regard to the ICOMOS technical advice.

Decision 44 COM 7B.32 recommended that the State Party halt construction activities for the LPHPP until the completion of technical studies and their review by the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies. It would therefore be appropriate for the Committee to express deep concern about the progress made with the site preparation for the Luang Prabang Hydropower Project (LPHPP) without a clear assessment that there would be no threats to the property’s OUV, a satisfactory HIA or defined mitigation measures. The HIA submitted by the State Party in November 2021 was reviewed by both ICOMOS and IUCN, informed by the views of independent experts commissioned under the International Assistance Programme. The review concluded that the HIA does not provide an appropriate analysis on crucial points, including suspected cumulative impacts of numerous dams upstream and downstream the site, combined with climate change effects, the modification or collapse of geomorphology and terrestrial and aquatic environment of the property and its surroundings, and longer impacts on spiritual practices, beliefs, culinary traditions and other immaterial but integral parts of the property’s OUV. The Reactive Monitoring mission of April 2022 concluded that there is no firm evidence that the LPHPP will not impact the OUV of the property. The new set of HIA documents provided in December 2022 and January 2023, led by the same group of experts who carried out the hydropower development planning, does not provide definitive answers to the recommendations of the mission and the previous ICOMOS/IUCN review nor provide an independent assessment. The State Party’s recent move to commission a neutral HIA by a group of cultural heritage experts, is welcome. Pending the submission of the new HIAs, in the absence of definitive evidence that cumulative negative impacts will not alter the physical, ecological and intangible attributes supporting the property’s OUV, the Committee should recommend that the State Party does not pursue any further advancement of the LPHPP or any other new hydropower or dam structures in areas where there could be potential impacts on World Heritage properties.

The mission identified other areas in which intervention is needed to preserve attributes which support the OUV. The visual coherence of infrastructure and materials proposed as part of development projects should not conflict with the town’s atmosphere nor with town and streetscape qualities because of their generic design. Governance needs to be enhanced across all layers, starting from the integration of the World Heritage Convention’s principles into relevant laws and management guidelines of territorial development, in particular by operationalizing the application of the impact assessments. The Tourism Management Plan, which was urgently requested in Decision 44 COM 7B.32, should be elaborated as soon as possible, in view of the post-COVID-19 return of mass tourism and the full operation of the new high-speed train linking Luang Prabang with Vientiane and Chinese cities. The long-term concern of the Committee to provide a solid, autonomous financial base for the preservation of the Town of Luang Prabang (including high-cost repair and maintenance of traditional architecture), might be addressed by resumption of the Heritage Funds, following the return of tourists, and complementary financial arrangement to compensate for the absence of public subsidies.

Since 2021, the Mekong and Nam Khan Riverbank protection project has been subject to two phases of ICOMOS technical review, the most recent of which advised that the project should be modified so that the hard, engineered appearance of the proposed system will not adversely affect the contribution of the river to the OUV of the property. The State Part is pursuing such modifications and has been further encouraged to investigate bio-engineered solutions to maintain the natural appearance of the riverbank slopes, using endemic species, and based on hydraulic principles supported by rigorous testing at source, preferably under extreme conditions, over an appropriate period of time. The Committee may wish to encourage the State Party to follow the ICOMOS advice.

To ensure the preservation of the property and its diverse attributes, the Committee may wish to recommend that the site management unit, recently undergone a restructuring, remains the unified and multidisciplinary management entity responsible for supervision of the inscribed zones, supported by essential reinforcement of human and financial resources. Finally, the roles of the Provincial and National Committees for World Heritage should be reinforced, especially to bring a more robust coordination mechanism for decision-making relating to national-level development projects (e.g., hydropower projects).

While appreciating the State Party’s efforts to enhance the protection of the property’s OUV and make multiple revisions to the HIA, the ongoing pursuit of the LPHPP, without definitive evidence that there is no direct, indirect, and or cumulative impacts to the OUV of the property, constitutes a significant threat to the property. Therefore, it is recommended that the Committee review, at its 46th session, whether the property meets the conditions for inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger.