Gulf of Porto: Calanche of Piana, Gulf of Girolata, Scandola Reserve

• Non-renewable energy facilities
• Oil and gas
• Impacts of tourism/visitor/recreation

N/A

At its 37th session in 2013, the World Heritage Committee noted with concern the increase in tourism pressure and its possible impact on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property (Decision 37 COM 7B.19). Since this Decision, the World Heritage Centre has continued to receive concerns from third parties about the impacts of over-tourism on the property, which have been transmitted to the State Party. In response, the State Party sent a report in 2020, in which it acknowledged, amongst other issues, that tourism pressure had increased significantly since the inscription and announced that tourism frequentation and its impacts would be monitored and appropriate measures taken, along with other protective measures.

With the aim of reviewing the progress of measures reported in 2020 as planned or to be started in that year, and while continuing to receive information from third parties concerning in particular over-tourism, the World Heritage Centre invited the State Party on 23 February 2023 to provide a report on the state of conservation of the property, including an assessment of the impacts and management of tourism and fishing activities. On 7 April 2023, the State Party submitted the report, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/258/documents/ and outlines the following:

• Since October 2019, the Environmental Office of Corsica (OEC) is the designated manager of the property. The OEC coordinates the activities of the site in cooperation with the Regional Nature Park of Corsica (PNRC), in charge of the management of the Scandola Nature Reserve (SNR), a significant part of the property in expressing its OUV under Criterion (x);
• The OEC has recruited two staff in 2020 in charge of surveillance of the property, and the PNRC staffing levels in charge of the SNR have increased from three in 2019 to six in 2022;
• The property still has no Management Plan, but management guidelines were adopted in 2015. The Management Plan for the SNR was adopted in 2017;
• A workshop in 2018 identified tourism as a major management challenge;
• Monitoring of the osprey population has shown that while the number of nesting couples in the property remains stable, reproduction numbers are very low, especially in the SNR;
• A comprehensive study on visitation is planned and since 2021, the number of vessels in the property is monitored during the tourist season. The maximum number of visitors to the property in 2021 was between 3,000 and 3,500 per day at the peak of the season. Numbers were lower than normal in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions, without improving osprey reproduction numbers;
• Fishing in the SNR is regulated with a defined number of fishermen for each period. The OEC collects data on coastal fishing, including data for the property. Data collection in the property will be strengthened, but preliminary results show that fishing in the SNR remains limited compared to the rest of Corsica. An evaluation of compliance with the Natura 2000 regulations is planned and will result in further permitting requirements on fishing activities;
• A project for the construction of a hiking trail to access the fort in Girolata was approved and is expected to help manage visitors to the overcrowded village;
• 250 m wide ‘quiet zones’ have been set up by prefectural decree around eight osprey nesting sites during the breeding season in 2021 and 2022, and this measure has been maintained in 2023. For 2023, a new decree will forbid the mooring of vessels larger than 24 m in the seagrass areas;
• A ‘Natura 2000 charter’ has so far been signed by a large number of operators, including 31 tourist boat operators and five boat rental companies. The charter provides for a number of voluntary commitments, including respecting the ‘quiet zones’ and the restriction of boat anchoring to sandy areas;
• A process was initiated to create a nature reserve in the north-western marine zone, but public consultations were delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic;
• A revision of the decree for the SNR was launched in 2022 to address increasing pressure from tourism.
• In the SNR, the impacts of climate change have already been observed (notably, the appearance of invasive alien species and the mortality of invertebrates) and the SNR’s Management Plan provides for this site to become a zone of increased surveillance (‘benchmark’), to monitor the response of marine and terrestrial life and habitats to global changes.

The increasing pressure from over-tourism and its impacts on the property have been widely documented. In particular, the increase in visitation of the SNR on its maritime front by yachts, recreational boats and tourist ships is having a growing impact on its biodiversity. The disturbance caused by motor vessels during the peak tourist season is linked to the poor nesting success of the resident population of ospreys, one of the flagship species of the property. Moreover, the mooring and anchoring of recreation vessels is degrading the Posidonia seagrass beds, coralligenous reefs and the corbels of Lithophyllum algae, which represent attributes of the property’s OUV.

As part of the process of renewing the Bern Convention’s European Diploma for the SNR, the Council of Europe’s 2018 on-site-appraisal mission recommended urgent measures to address tourism pressure and, in particular, to complete the proposed extension of the SNR in the maritime zone and the resulting restrictive measures by January 2020 (report available at https://rm.coe.int/report-of-the-on-the-spot-expert-appraisal-of-the-scandola-nature-rese/168090e97d). As this condition was not met, the Council of Europe decided in April 2020 not to renew the Diploma due to the lack of progress made.

It needs to be recalled that concern over the expansion of tourism and its potential impacts on the property had already been raised at the time of its inscription in 1983. In 2013, the Committee, in its Decision 37 COM 7B.19, requested the State Party to include a sustainable tourism strategy in the Management Plan (MP) of the property and to take measures to address tourism pressure. Unfortunately, although the State party has since acknowledged the problem in its various reports and correspondence with the World Heritage Centre, few measures seem to be in place to date to address it. While the problem has been underlined for more than a decade, the State Party’s report focuses on the need for more data collection on visitation, rather than taking concrete and urgent measures to address tourism pressure, as requested by the Committee, for example by limiting the number of vessels accessing the area. A clear strategy for sustainable tourism is still not available. The initiative to create 250 m ‘quiet zones’ around eight nesting areas in 2020 and 2021 is noted, but third-party sources have pointed out that not all breeding sites have been included, that the 250 m zone is too limited and is not off-limits for professional fishermen, and that the Reserve has limited means to enforce these measures due to lack of staff and patrolling vessels. The initiative of a voluntary Charter is also noted, but the commitments it includes seem to be limited to the application of legal provisions and it could be strengthened to enhance the benefits of the Charter to the property’s OUV.

The lack of progress in developing an overall management for the property, which was requested in Decision 37 COM B.17, now ten years ago, is of concern and it is recommended that the Committee reiterates this request.

Reported impacts of climate change are noted. Invertebrates such as the red gorgonian and red coral are important attributes of the OUV of the property. The State Party should therefore be requested to provide more information on reported invertebrate mortality and introduction of invasive alien species, and to implement monitoring and adaptation measures, as outlined in the draft MP, as a matter of urgency.

The favourable opinion issued by the National Council for Nature Conservation in January 2023 to revise the decree relating to the SNR, which dates back to its creation in 1975 (when visitation of the Reserve was limited), in order to ensure that its regulation can respond to tourist pressure, is promising. request the State Party to take urgent measures to regulate mooring and the number of vessels permitted in the area and to reduce significantly the disturbance and impacts from mooring.