1. Having examined Document WHC-08/32.COM/11E,

2. Recalling Decisions 25 COM VII.25-27 adopted at its 25th session (Helsinki, 2001), 7 EXT.COM 5 and 7 EXT.COM 5A.1 adopted at its 7th extraordinary session (UNESCO, 2004), 29 COM 11.A adopted at its 29th session (Durban, 2005), 30 COM 11G adopted at its 30th session (Vilnius, 2006), and 31 COM 11D1 adopted at its 31st session (Christchurch, 2007),

3. Emphasizing the pivotal importance of Statements of Outstanding Universal Value in all World Heritage processes;

4. Thanks the States Parties which participated in the Field Testing of the Revised Questionnaire;

5. Congratulates the Working Group on the simplification of the Periodic Reporting Questionnaire and setting up of indicators and the World Heritage Centre, for their work on the periodic reporting process, and welcomes the Revised Periodic Reporting Questionnaire (Sections I and II) and its web-based application, as presented in Document WHC-08/32.COM/INF.11E, for use during the Second Cycle of Periodic Reporting;

6. Decides to launch the Second Cycle of Periodic Reporting in the Arab States Region;

7. Thanks ALECSO for its offer to translate the revised Questionnaire into Arabic and requests the Director of the World Heritage Centre to identify extra budgetary funding to ensure the translation of the entire second Cycle of Periodic Reporting for the Arab States Region into Arabic;

8. Thanks the Kingdom of Bahrain for its offer to host a workshop of States Parties in the Arab Region to launch the Periodic Reporting process in the region, and encourages other regions to conduct similar workshops on the new periodic reporting process;

9. Requests all States Parties, in cooperation with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, to finalize all missing Statements of Outstanding Universal Value for properties in their territory as soon as possible, and to do so before the beginning of the second Cycle of Periodic Reporting for the relevant Region;

10. Requests the World Heritage Centre to continue the Retrospective Inventory as the basis to prefill the Questionnaire at the outset of the second Cycle of periodic reporting in each region;

11. Also requests the World Heritage Centre to seek extrabudgetary funding for the Working Group to develop indicators for World Heritage properties and, if possible, to report on the progress made on this issue to the Committee at its 33rd session in 2009.

1. Having examined Document WHC-08/32.COM/12,

2. Recalling Decision 31 COM 12A adopted at its 31st session (Christchurch, 2007),

3. Commends the efforts of all professionals involved in preserving the Palestinian cultural and natural heritage despite difficult conditions;

4. Regrets that the prevailing situation, besides heavily affecting the life of the communities, does not allow effective and smooth implementation of conservation programmes;

5. Urges all parties concerned with the safeguarding of the Palestinian cultural and natural heritage to take appropriate measures to prevent and avoid any damage to the Palestinian cultural and natural heritage and requests the World Heritage Centre to continue its efforts to this end, in liaison with the concerned parties;

6. Thanks the concerned States Parties, IGOs and NGOs for their substantial contributions to UNESCO's action in the Palestinian Territories and appeals to them to continue supporting this endeavour;

7. Also requests the World Heritage Centre to continue assisting the Palestinian institutions concerned in reinforcing their capacity in the protection, preservation and management of the Palestinian cultural and natural heritage;

8. Further requests the World Heritage Centre to present a progress report to the World Heritage Committee at its 33rd session in 2009.

1. Having examined Document WHC-08/32.COM/13,

2. Recalling Decision 31 COM 16 adopted at its 31st session (Christchurch, 2007),
Decisions report of the 32nd session (Quebec City, 2008) WHC-08/32.COM/24, p. 236

3. Takes not of the amendments compiled in the Annex of the Document WHC-08/32.COM/13;

4. Requests the World Heritage Centre, in close cooperation with the Advisory Bodies, to draft the amendments to the Operational Guidelines proposed in Document WHC-08/32.COM/13 taking account of the debate at the 32nd session and the Committee's reflections, and in cooperation with the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee, to develop a screening process for the Operational Guidelines to ensure consistent references between the different proposals for submission to the Committee at its 33rd session in 2009;

5. Establishes an informal working group to review and propose revisions to Chapter VIII of the Operational Guidelines, as well as clear procedures and tools to promote consistent and appropriate use of the World Heritage emblem, for the consideration of the Committee at its 33rd session in 2009;

6. Requests the World Heritage Centre, notwithstanding Decision 31 COM 16, to publish the updated English and French versions of the Basic Texts of the Convention following the 33rd session of the Committee in 2009.

No Decision was required under this item.

1. Takes note of the statement of accounts of the World Heritage Fund for 2006-2007 and the situation of the reserves and contributions as at 31 December 2007;

2. Also takes note of the implementation of the budget and the statement of accounts for the World Heritage Fund for 2008-2009 and the current situation of the reserves and contributions as at 31 March 2008;

3. Notes that, where possible, it is desirable that contributions by States Parties are paid by 31 March;

4. Calls upon States Parties who have not yet paid the totality of their contributions, including voluntary contributions, to do so at their earliest convenience.

1. Having examined the budgetary adjustments proposed by the World Heritage Centre,

2. Authorizes the World Heritage Centre to proceed with the necessary budgetary adjustments to partially compensate the Advisory Bodies and the World Heritage Centre a total amount of USD 250,000 for the negative effects of the exchange rate between the USD and the Euro, according to the Table presented in WHC-08/32.COM/16A, paragraph 18, from the USD 639,577 unspent balance of the 2006-07 funds.

3. Also authorizes the World Heritage Centre to proceed with the additional budgetary revisions set out in the table below using the USD 389,577 balance of the unspent funds from 2006-07:

• Reinforced monitoring mechanism: USD 50,000
• ICOMOS Reactive monitoring: USD 120,000
• ICOMOS State of conservation reports: USD 60,000
• Monitoring missions: USD 70,000
• Periodic reports: USD 40,000
• Publishing of manuals: USD 49,577

4. Decides to reallocate the USD 90,000 in the current Budget line 1.2 "Studies and Evaluations" to support the development and publication of the resource manuals approved at the 31st session of the Committee and presented in Document WHC-08/32.COM/18;

5. Encourages States Parties to contribute extra-budgetary funding to support the publication of resource manuals, which play an important part in capacity building;

6. Recognizes the desirability of protecting the World Heritage Fund from the adverse effects of currency fluctuations;

7. Recommends that the General Assembly of States Parties consider paying future contributions to the World Heritage Fund using the split assessment method and percentages used for core contributions to UNESCO;

8. Strongly recommends the General Conference and the Executive Board of UNESCO to significantly increase the level of core funding to the World Heritage Centre so that adequate funding is available to support the staff necessary to enable the World Heritage Centre to effectively meet the increasing needs of this very successful and high profile Convention .

1. Having examined Documents WHC-08/32.COM/16A and WHC-08/32.COM/16B;

2. Asks the Chairperson to establish an informal working group, comprised of World Heritage Committee members, for the following purposes:

a) examine ways to ensure the continuity, efficiency and effectiveness of the World Heritage work and the sustainability of the World Heritage Fund in a context of increasing workload and a fixed budget, including measures to ensure adequate resourcing for the World Heritage Centre and Advisory Bodies to meet their responsibilities;

b) recommend measures that can be implemented by the Director General of UNESCO, by the World Heritage Committee and by the General Assembly of States Parties.

3. Requests the informal working group to submit its report to the World Heritage Committee at its 33rd session in 2009, with a view to presenting recommendations to the General Assembly of States Parties at its seventeenth session in 2009.

1. Having examined Document WHC-08/32.COM/17,

2. Recalling Decision 31 COM 19, adopted at its 31st session (Christchurch, 2007),

3. Takes note of the progress in implementing the World Heritage Committee's Decision 31 COM 19 (Christchurch, 2007);

4. Encourages the Director General of UNESCO and the Director of the World Heritage Centre to continue their efforts in implementing the remaining recommendations of the management audit;

5. Urges the Director General of UNESCO to fill the post of Deputy Director of Management as soon as possible;

6. Requests that the Committee be informed at its 33rd session in 2009 about the progress made with the implementation of its decisions on the management audit of the World Heritage Centre.

1. Having examined Document WHC-08/32.COM/18,

2. Recalling Decision 31 COM 21B, adopted at its 31st session (Christchurch, 2007),

3. Endorses the revised timeline for the World Heritage Resource Manuals Series to be published in 2008/2009, including the addition of the Disaster Risk Reduction Manual, subject to availability of funding;

4. Allocates the amount of USD 49,577 from the unspent balance from the 2006-2007 budget towards the finalization and publication of the resource manual entitled Preparing World Heritage Nominations; and decides to reallocate the USD 90,000 in the current Budget line 1.2 "Studies and Evaluations" to support the development and publication of the resource manuals approved at the 31st session of the Committee and presented in Document WHC-08/32.COM/18;

5. Encourages States Parties to contribute extra-budgetary funding to support the publication of titles within the Resource Manuals Series which play an important part in capacity building;

6. Approves the proposed list of titles for future publications in the Resource Manuals Series and takes note of the indicative costs for their publication:

• Establishment of Tentative Lists
• Monitoring World Heritage Properties
• Vulnerability Assessment of World Natural and Cultural Heritage to Climate Change Impacts
  

7. Requests the World Heritage Centre to prepare a list of titles for the Resource Manual Series to be presented and prioritized to the World Heritage Committee at its 33rd session in 2009;

8. Decides to replace and supersede Decision 31 COM 21B (Christchurch, 2007) by Decision 32 COM 18.

1. Recalling its Decision 31 COM 22, adopted at its 31st session (Christchurch, 2007), which elected a Bureau whose mandate began at the end of its 31st session (Christchurch, 2007) until the end of its 32nd session (Quebec City, 2008),

2. Decides to elect, in accordance with Rule 13.1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Committee, a Bureau with the following composition:

a) H.E. Maria Jesus San Segundo (Spain) as Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee, whose mandate will begin at the end of the 32nd session of the Committee (Quebec City, 2008) until the end of the 33rd session of the Committee (June 2009);

b) Mr Antonio Ricarte (Brazil) as Rapporteur of the World Heritage Committee, whose mandate will begin at the end of the 32nd session of the Committee (Quebec City, 2008) until the end of the 33rd session of the Committee (June 2009);

c) - Australia

   - Barbados

   - Kenya,

   - Tunisia, and

   - United States of America

as Vice-Chairpersons of the World Heritage Committee, whose mandates will begin at the end of the 32nd session of the Committee (Quebec City, 2008) until the end of the 33rd session of the Committee (June 2009);

3. Also decides that the Bureau of the 34th session of the World Heritage Committee (June/July 2010) will be elected at the end of the 33rd session of the World Heritage Committee (June 2009) in accordance with Rule 13.1 of the Rules of Procedure of the World Heritage Committee;