The Committee elected Mr. Francesco Francioni (Italy) as Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee and Mr. Noel Fattal (Lebanon) as Rapporteur. The Vice-Chairs elected were: Benin, Ecuador, Japan, Morocco and the United States of America.
The eleventh General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was held in Paris at UNESCO Headquarters on 27 and 28 October 1997, during the twenty-ninth session of the General Conference.
One hundred and twenty-eight States Parties to the Convention were represented at this meeting.
The representatives of the three advisory bodies to the World Heritage Convention (ICCROM, ICOMOS and IUCN), the Council of Europe, three non-governmental organizations, as well as one State not party to the Convention attended the ...
5. In her opening address, the representative of the Director-General, Mrs Lourdes Arizpe, Assistant Director-General for Culture, spoke of the remarkable and visionary character of the Convention for the Protection of World Heritage, which was adopted exactly twenty-five years ago. The Convention is based on the by now well-accepted premises that there are natural and cultural properties of such importance that not only are they of national value, but also of universal value to all humankind. She welcomed the adhesion of new States Parties to the Convention and mentioned the most recent ...
9. The General Assembly elected by acclamation H.E. Mr Nouréini Tidjani-Serpos (Benin) as President of the General Assembly, the representatives of Australia, Morocco and the United States of America as Vice Presidents, and Mr Mauricio Montalvo (Ecuador) as Rapporteur.
10. The agenda was adopted without amendments.
11. The Chairperson, Mrs Teresa Franco, recalled the last sessions of the World Heritage Committee which were held in Berlin (Germany - nineteenth session) and Merida (Mexico - twentieth session). During these sessions, the World Heritage Committee decided to include 66 new properties on the World Heritage List, bringing the total to 506, with 380 cultural, 108 natural and 19 mixed properties.12. After a quarter of a century of implementation, it appears that the 1972 Convention is one of the most successful instruments in the field of heritage protection. The Chairperson recalled the ...
17. The General Assembly took note of the Document WHC-97/CONF.205/3A concerning the examination of the statement of accounts of the World Heritage Fund for the financial period 1994/1995, as well as the accounts audited by the Auditor General for 1996. The representative of the Bureau of the Comptroller proposed that the General Assembly accept the accounts for 1994, 1995 and 1996.18. The Delegate of Thailand wished to know why, according to the letter from the Auditor General of Canada, the accounts for the preceding years had not been audited, whereas all the financial statements ...
19. The representative of the Bureau of the Comptroller indicated that a large number of States Parties had paid their contributions and that other contributions were being made and would be accepted until midday. 20. The Delegate of China voiced his disappointment that the amount of US$ 20,000 contributed by his country was not indicated as a voluntary contribution in the document. The representative of the Bureau of the Comptroller said that he would verify this information and that the necessary corrections would be made.
11 GA 21
Determination of the amount of the contributions to the World Heritage Fund in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of the Convention
21. In accordance with item 7 of the agenda, the General Assembly unanimously decided that the amount of mandatory contributions to the World Heritage Fund for the period 1998-1999, calculated in US dollars, would be maintained at 1 percent of contributions made by States Parties to the Regular Programme of UNESCO, in accordance with Article 16, paragraph 1 of the Convention, as had been decided by previous General Assemblies.
22. The Director of the World Heritage Centre recalled that the Tenth General Assembly examined the monitoring and reporting on the state of conservation of World Heritage properties and that it decided the following (paragraph 31 of the Summary Record of the Tenth General Assembly):
'As a conclusion, the General Assembly decided to continue the debate on the systematic monitoring and reporting on the state of conservation of World Heritage properties at the Eleventh General Assembly of States Parties that will be held in 1997. The General Assembly requested the World Heritage Committee ...
26. Under item 9 of the agenda, the General Assembly was called upon to elect seven members of the World Heritage Committee, to replace the following seven members whose mandate would expire at the end of the 29th session of the General Conference: China, Cyprus, Egypt, Germany, Mexico, Philippines and Spain. The list of candidates was read out to the General Assembly: Angola, Armenia, Bulgaria, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Hungary, Malawi, Mali, Mexico, Mozambique, Pakistan, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, ...
33. The Delegate of Panama informed of his wish to associate States not yet party to the Convention with the 152 States Parties, in a reflection on the protection of the World Heritage, and he suggested that the number of members of the World Heritage Committee be increased to enable greater participation in the work of the Committee. The Delegate of Italy wished to go back to item 6 of the agenda in Document WHC-97/CONF.205/3A concerning the approbation of the utilization of the World Heritage Fund, item 12 of page 21. She indicated that contrary to what was mentioned in the report, it ...
35. After having thanked the Secretariat, the tellers and the interpreters for their efficient work, the President declared the session closed.
The Bureau examined reports on the state of conservation of eleven of the thirteen natural properties included in the List of World Heritage in Danger. The Bureau noted that in the case of Srebarna Nature Reserve (Bulgaria) and Everglades National Park (United States of America) no new information had been received, since the conclusions of the twentieth session of the Committee.
The Bureau recalled that the Committee, at its twentieth session, had determined that the World Heritage values of Plitvice Lakes National Park had not been adversely impacted by the armed conflict of the early 1990s, and concluded that the natural systems of the site were recovering from pre-war over-development and over-use. The Committee decided to retain Plitvice Lakes National Park on the List of World Heritage in Danger, because it recognized potential post-war threats due to rising visitor impacts, and the damaged condition of the Park's infrastructure.
The Bureau was informed ...
Sites: Plitvice Lakes National Park
21 BUR IV.A.4
Virunga National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Garamba National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Since the twentieth session of the Committee, the eastern part Democratic Republic of the Congo has become further destabilized and military action has spread to other parts of the country. Reports received indicate that in both these sites, infrastructure had been destroyed and wildlife populations decimated. The Bureau noted that IUCN and the Centre will continue to maintain contacts with UNHCR and conservation NGOs and provide up-to-date reports on both Virunga and Garamba, at the time of the twenty-first session of the Committee.
The Bureau requested the Centre and IUCN to ...
The Bureau recalled that the Committee at its twentieth session, commended the Park administration's (Instituto Ecuadoriano Forestal y de Areas Naturales y Vida Silvestre, (INEFAN)) actions and reports, but reiterated its serious concerns about road construction activities, poaching and colonization, and recalled its request for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The Bureau noted that INEFAN has submitted a report to the Centre that identifies the Guamote Macas road construction to be the main problem and that colonisation in the Guamboya valley and along the River Palora, ...
Sites: Sangay National Park
The Bureau recalled that the Committee at its last session noted the report of the technical mission to the site, (2-9 November 1996), which identified the deterioration of the Walia ibex population, loss of biodiversity, encroachment at the borders of the site and impacts of the construction of a road through the Park, and, as stipulated in Paragraph 79 of the Operational Guidelines, included Simen National Park in the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The Bureau was informed that the Head of the Bureau of Agriculture of the Bahir Dar Region, where Simen National Park is located, ...
Sites: Simien National Park
The Bureau recalled that at its twentieth session, the Committee noted the fact that UNESCO's Legal Affairs Office was considering the proposals made by a working group for setting up an "International Foundation for Mt. Nimba". The Bureau was informed that the Legal Affairs Office of UNESCO has advised the Centre that UNESCO cannot create an International Foundation but that such a Foundation may be established under the national legislation of a suitable State Party. The Swiss Foundation established for the conservation of Banc d'Arguin National Park, a World Heritage site in ...
The Bureau recalled that the Committee at its twentieth session included Rio Platano in the List of World Heritage in Danger and urged the Honduran authorities to implement the eleven-point corrective action plan, endorsed by the Honduran Minister for the Environment, and keep it informed, on a regular basis, of measures taken to safeguard this property.
The Bureau noted that a revised budget breakdown requested from the Honduran authorities for a US$ 30,000 project, approved by the Bureau at its twentieth session for preparing a management plan for Rio Platano, has not yet been ...
The Bureau noted that the Ministry for Environment and Forests (MOEF) of India, hosted a World Natural Heritage Site Managers' Meeting for South Asia, from 16 to 19 January 1997. The Director of Manas Wildlife Sanctuary presented a report on the state of conservation of Manas at that meeting. A staff member of the World Heritage Centre accompanied the Deputy Inspector General for Wildlife in India on a mission to Manas Wildlife Sanctuary from 20 to 23 January 1997. The mission concluded that:
(i) Militancy of the Bodo people in the early 1990s had damaged the infrastructure for the ...
Sites: Manas Wildlife Sanctuary
The Bureau recalled that a peace agreement, signed on 20 April 1995, had started a dialogue between the conflicting parties and set in motion the process for a return to a normal management regime and that the Committee at its twentieth session had noted that a detailed site evaluation and the development of an action programme for site recovery may become feasible in the near future. The IUCN/WWF project, with funding from DANIDA, for re-establishing a normal management regime for the site is soon to be resumed.
By letter of 20 March 1997, the Permanent Delegation of Niger has provided ...
The Bureau recalled that the Committee at its twentieth session noted that the construction of two dams had limited freshwater flow and devastated the wetland values of Ichkeul National Park, leading to dramatic increases in the salinity of the lake and marshes and sharp reductions in migratory bird populations. Hence, the Committee included Ichkeul in the List of World Heritage in Danger and requested the Tunisian authorities to provide a programme of corrective measures to reverse the degradation of the site, and alerted them to the possibility of the deletion of Ichkeul from the World ...
Sites: Ichkeul National Park
The Bureau recalled that the Committee at its twentieth session noted several remedial actions taken by the State Party to minimize potential and ascertained threats to this site, and commended the President of the country for his efforts to fully remove the potential mining threat to the integrity of the site with a mutually, to-be-agreed upon trade of land, valued at US$ 65 million. Since then, the Montana State Office of the Bureau of Land Management of the United States Department of the Interior, and the Northern Region Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture ...
Sites: Yellowstone National Park
The Bureau, while commending the efforts of the Royal Government of Cambodia and UNESCO, expressed deep concern over the looting and illegal excavation of cultural properties from Angkor, notably over the organized trade in antiquities, including the dismantling of monuments. The Bureau invited the Royal Government of Cambodia to submit a report to the twenty-first session of the Committee on administrative mechanisms and regulations put into place for the enforcement of the law on cultural heritage including measures adopted for the prevention of illicit traffic in cultural property. ...
Sites: Angkor
After having taken note of the report of the Secretariat concerning the situation at Fort Bahla, the Bureau thanked the Omani authorities for their communications of 12 and 24 March 1997 by which they confirmed their intent to carry out the recommendations of the UNESCO experts. However, it expressed its serious concern following the collapse of the Fort's north-west Tower and requested them to make every effort to consolidate the monument. It approved the dispatch of a new expert mission next October, on a cost-sharing basis, as previously.
Sites: Bahla Fort
Introducing its written report on the state of conservation of natural World Heritage properties, IUCN supplemented this with a verbal report on more recent developments in Australia. IUCN recalled previous discussions of the Bureau and the Committee on the future of forested public lands adjoining the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and the response at that time by the State Party that World Heritage issues would be taken into account in the negotiation of a Regional Forest Agreement between the Governments of Australia and the State of Tasmania. The IUCN Representative said ...
The Bureau noted that an alarming situation has recently developed in this Park which required urgent attention. A local organization is campaigning for the reopening of an 18 km road which was closed in 1986 to strengthen protection of the site. In early May, 800 people invaded the Park and set up camp to begin unauthorized work to re-open the road. The responsible conservation authorities have been unable to resist political pressures associated with this development and have not acted to contain the damage.
The Bureau requested the Centre to urgently contact Brazilian authorities to ...
Sites: Iguaçu National Park
a) Okapi Faunal Reserve
The Bureau was deeply concerned to learn that the armed conflict which spread, during early 1997, to the whole of the region has led to the looting of all facilities and killing of several elephants in this site, inscribed on the World Heritage List in Mexico (December, 1996). Most of the expatriate and research staff have fled the Park and those remaining in the site receive only minimum salaries. There are reports of gold mining within the Park and the new Government's policy with regard to respecting the boundaries of the World Heritage area ...
The Bureau thanked IUCN, and the Observer of Ecuador for their reports. It noted that there was a major effort in Ecuador to take steps to conserve the World Heritage values of the islands.
The Bureau recalled that, at its twentieth session in Merida, the World Heritage Committee decided "to include the Galapagos National Park in the List of World Heritage in Danger, effective 15 November 1997, unless a substantive written reply by Ecuador is received by 1st of May 1997, and the Bureau, at its twenty first session determine that effective actions have been taken".
Having studied both ...
Sites: Galápagos Islands
The Bureau noted that a member of the Centre joined the Deputy Inspector General for Wildlife for India, during 24-25 January 1997, on a mission to Kaziranga National Park, in the State of Assam, India. The Bureau learnt with satisfaction Kaziranga's success in conserving the great one-horned rhinoceros, whose population within the Park has grown from 366 in 1966 to about 1,200 at present. However, every year about 26 rhinos are poached and an additional 52 die due to natural causes, most of them drowning in the annual floods of the Brahmaputra River.
The Bureau encouraged the management ...
Sites: Kaziranga National Park
The Bureau recalled the fact that the Committee had previously expressed concerns regarding the decrease in the population of wintering Siberian cranes returning to this site and management problems, such as the over-growth of grasses, forming a thick mat in some areas were adversely affecting the breeding habitat of the Siberian cranes. Records maintained by Park management indicated that the wintering population of Siberian cranes, estimated at about 38 in 1985-86 when the site was inscribed on the World Heritage List, had dropped to 5 in 1992-93; no Siberian cranes were seen in ...
Sites: Keoladeo National Park
The Bureau was informed that the Sundarbans National Park and World Heritage Area, comprising 1,330 sq.km., forms the core area of the larger Sundarbans Project Tiger Reserve (2,585 sq.km) and the even larger "Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve" which extends over more than 9,000 sq.km of the inter-tidal area of the Sundarbans delta. Although India has not yet formally nominated the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve for inclusion in UNESCO's international network of biosphere reserves, the case illustrated an interesting application of the World Heritage and the Biosphere Reserve concepts of UNESCO ...
Sites: Sundarbans National Park
The Bureau was informed that this Park is located in a very remote area, and due to difficulty of access, remains well protected. There are no major threats to the Park; a certain amount of illegal collection of medicinal plants and herbs has been recorded. No visitors are allowed to the Park; some mountaineering groups have in recent times expressed an interest in organizing expeditions to the area. Allowing a certain amount of visitation may facilitate the presentation of this World Heritage Area to the general public and may generate income for the benefit of local people as well. ...
The Bureau recalled the fact that the boat provided to this World Heritage area with financial assistance from the Fund in 1994, was destroyed in an accident during a systematic monitoring mission to the site in July 1995, in which four Indonesian officials lost their lives. With a view to equipping the Park with a boat capable of undertaking open-sea travel, the Committee at its nineteenth session (Berlin, 1995) approved a sum of US$ 30,000 and requested that the State Party provide the additional US$ 30,000 needed to purchase a large fiberglass catamaran. Learning the fact that the ...
Sites: Komodo National Park
The Bureau was informed that the Centre's attention had been drawn by the International Foundation for Banc d’Arguin (FIBA) and WWF, to a Rally, “Trophée des Gazelles - Rallye des Sables”, that had traversed the area of the Park and to potential impacts which the Rally could have had on the fragile ecosystem within the Park. However, the Bureau noted that subsequently the Rally Organizers and FIBA have informed the Centre that the Rally did not traverse the World Heritage site and that there were no threats to the integrity of the site.
Sites: Banc d'Arguin National Park
The Bureau recalled that the Committee, at its twentieth session (Merida, 1996) reviewed a report on a project for industrial salt production at the site and its potential threats to the site's whale population and noted that the project had not yet been authorized and that a Scientific Committee to review the proposed project had been established by the Ministry of Environment.
The Bureau was informed that the seven member Scientific Committee has elaborated, through consultations with the public, rigorous and comprehensive terms of reference for its work and for the environmental ...
The Bureau noted with satisfaction that this site has a population of more than 400 great one-horned rhinoceros and its success is partly attributable to the cooperation between the Nepalese Army and the staff of the Royal Chitwan National Park in anti-poaching activities.
The Bureau was informed that 80% of the total population (i.e. about 2,000) of the great one-horned rhinoceros, a species restricted in its range to South Asia, are found in the World Heritage sites of Kaziranga (India; 1,200) and Royal Chitwan (Nepal; 400). The Bureau, however, noted that intensive poaching can ...
Sites: Chitwan National Park
The Bureau was informed that about 3500 people belonging to the Sherpa community live in and around the Park and play a significant role as guides for the visitors to the Park. Tourism however, is placing an ever increasing energy demand on the sparse woody vegetation left remaining in the area and also introduces considerable problems of waste disposal.
The Director of the Park had proposed that staff, army personnel and the Sherpa community resident in the vicinity of the Park shift to using kerosene as a primary source of energy but has been unable to raise the necessary capital, ...
Sites: Sagarmatha National Park
The Bureau recalled that the Committee, at its twentieth session (Merida, 1996) expressed its concerns regarding the poaching of thirteen Oryx, the damage to the desert habitat caused by construction of a reverse osmosis plant and delays in the completion of the management planning and boundary definition project. The Bureau was informed that the authorities in Oman have provided the Centre an outline of an interim plan which foresees the following:
(a) a new outer boundary which will be fixed and boundaries of the five management zones which will be provisionally accepted for 5 years to ...
The Bureau noted that the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee approved, in 1996, a sum of US$ 20,000, for the implementation of a project entitled "Protection and Information and Education Campaign for the Conservation of Tubbataha Reef Marine Park". The Bureau was happy to note that the Project Management Team (PMT) has regular consultations with Government agencies, research institutions and local communities concerned with the project's implementation and that a Presidential Task Force has brought together all groups interested in the conservation of this World Heritage site. ...
Sites: Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park
The Bureau was informed that the Sri Lankan authorities have increased the total area of the Sinharaja National Heritage Wilderness Area from 8,860 ha to 11,187 ha to incorporate some habitat fragments northeast of the World Heritage Area. Since the current size of the Sinharaja World Heritage area is 8,860 ha, the Bureau requested IUCN and the Centre to contact Sri Lankan authorities to obtain information on areas included in the extension in order to determine whether or not the State Party should be invited to consider increasing the total area of the World Heritage Site.
Sites: Sinharaja Forest Reserve
The Bureau noted with concern that this site faced considerable threats from a proposal of the national electricity company (EDELCA) to erect a series of power transmission lines, expected to extend 160 km across the Park, to supply power from the Guri dam to Brazil and to a mining site north of the Park. The traditional Pemon community who inhabit a portion of the Park are concerned that the power generation project will lead to increased mining and logging and hence are opposing the scheme. During recent years large scale mining operations have been started in areas outside of the Park ...
Sites: Canaima National Park
The Bureau recalled that the Committee at its nineteenth and the twentieth sessions expressed concerns over the impacts which a proposed port development project could have on this site and plans of the Vietnam Government to issue a license for the establishment of a large floating hotel in the vicinity of the World Heritage site. The Bureau noted that a member of the Centre staff participated in the management planning training seminar organized by the Vietnamese authorities in Ha Long City, during 10-23 June 1997, with financial support (US$ 24,250) approved by the Committee at its last ...