Ancient Maya City and Protected Tropical Forests of Calakmul, Campeche

• Governance (need to strengthen the coordinating mechanism)
• Legal framework (need to assure that the buffer zone is configured in a way designed to protect the property)
• Management systems/ management plan (lack of an integrated Protection and Management Plan)
• Weak monitoring system for the Cultural and Natural values

N/A

On 17 March 2023, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1061/documents/. Progress in a number of conservation issues addressed by the Committee at its previous sessions is presented in this report, as follows:

• The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) acquired LiDAR (light detection and ranging) imagery of 95 km² of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. Preliminary results show a complex and dense urban expansion of one of the largest cities in the Americas around 700 A.D. In 2023, the research may be continued to cover the entirety of the mixed property. This will facilitate necessary protective measures for both cultural and natural heritage resources;
• The National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) has initiated the process to designate extended areas to the north-east, west and north of the property and the Biosphere Reserve as federal protected natural areas. This will expand the buffer area and provide protection to additional archaeological sites located within;
• INAH signed an agreement with the National Guard, in coordination with CONANP, for surveillance to prevent illegal activities, such as the looting of cultural property and illegal logging;
• The zoning in the World Heritage property is adequate for monitoring and conservation purposes;
• Carrying capacity studies are being prepared in response to the possible impact of the Tren Maya railway project;
• In 2022, an extensive monitoring and documentation programme was carried out on the frieze and tunnel of Substructure IIC. Conditions were found to be stable;
• Funds have been made available for a research and conservation programme, infrastructural development, improvement of museum facilities and replacement of on-site interpretation panels in 2023;
• INAH implements an extensive programme of research and documentation of heritage resources along the trajectory of the Tren Maya. Section 7 of the railway route, executed under the authority of the Ministry of Defence (SEDENA), passes to the north of the property and through a narrow section of the adjoining Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. Archaeological resources are classified into 4 categories with the highest level consisting of resources that require conservation in-situ and indicate necessary re-routing of the rail route trajectory. Preliminary results of the Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) of the potential impacts of the project on the property, show that the Tren Maya project in its construction phase will not cause direct damage to its integrity. The benefits of the project are economic and will improve the quality of life for nearby communities. The World Heritage Centre will be informed of the final results of these studies.

In October 2021, the State Party submitted a HIA on the potential impact of the Tren Maya project on cultural and mixed World Heritage properties along with a follow-up report on the same in May 2022, both were prepared by INAH.

On 17 August 2022, the State Party submitted a report on the Tren Maya infrastructure project and its relationship to natural and mixed World Heritage properties in the Yucatan peninsula’. On 30 November 2022, the World Heritage Centre sent a technical review of the report undertaken by IUCN to the State Party, noting the need to provide the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for the project as soon as it becomes available. At the time of writing, the EIA of the Tren Maya project has not been submitted.

The State Party should be commended for its substantive response and for the actions it has undertaken with regards to the management and conservation of the property.

The possible extension of protected areas to the north-east, west and north of the property is noted. The State Party should ensure that any extension of protected areas outside the property is carried out with full and effective participation of all relevant stakeholders and rightsholders and contributes to the protection of the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), including archaeological resources that are located outside of the property but that are intimitely related to it as well as enhancing its ecological integrity as the the centre of connectivity in the Selva Maya. The State Party should be requested to keep the Committee informed of further actions in this regard especially to respond to past Committee requests to improve the configuration of the buffer zone and to consider including additional and relevant cultural sites, which follows a full consultative process with all relevant stakeholders and rightsholders.

The State Party should be commended on the extensive research and documentation through LiDAR imagery as well as the monitoring and conservation programme in the tunnels and frieze of Substructure IIC.

Concerning the Tren Maya project, the Advisory Bodies provided extensive advice through technical reviews in July 2020, December 2021 and July 2022 in which they stressed the need for collaborative action by INAH and CONANP for the assessment of its potential impact of the project on this and other World Heritage properties. The HIAs undertaken by INAH along with the research, documentation and conservation actions it is implementing along the trajectory of the Tren Maya are noted. However, the State Party has yet to submit an integrated assessment of impacts of the project to the OUV of the property as a whole. It is therefore recommended that the State Party urgently undertake an EIA including assessment of impacts on natural and cultural values and in particular the OUV and submit it to the World Heritage Centre, for review by the Advisory Bodies, in line with the Committee’s decision (44 COM 7B.78).

In the technical review of July 2022, it was noted with great concern that, so far, no specific mitigation proposals have been proposed for some of the serious multi-dimensional threats that have been identified and that clarity is lacking on how their likely impact is measured. Taking into account the potential scale of impact of the Tren Maya, including the direct impacts of construction and operation of the train but also increased visitation and associated tourism infrastructure development facilitated by the project, and acknowledging that a number of World Heritage properties are located along the route, it is essential that a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is conducted in order to guide the development of the project in a coherent manner consistent with the conservation of OUV of the different properties. The assessment should include specific considerations of potential impacts of the project to the OUV of all World Heritage properties located along the proposed route of the railway, in line with the new Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessment in a World Heritage Context.

The review also highlighted the need for better and integrated maps on the location of the railway, the stations, and the related infrastructure, in order to be able to appreciate the spatial relationship between the planned constructions, the property and its buffer zone. The State Party should be urged to establish appropriate coordination mechanisms among all institutions involved in the Tren Maya project, in particular between INAH and CONANP for an integrated approach for the protection of the cultural and natural attributes.