43 COM 5D Priority Africa, Sustainable Development and World Heritage

wh-support@unesco.org — Sun, 30 Jun 2019 00:00:00 EST

The World Heritage Committee,

Having examined Document WHC/19/43.COM/5D,
Recalling Decisions 36 COM 5C, 38 COM 5D, 39 COM 5D, 40 COM 5C, 41 COM 5C, and 42 COM 17 adopted respectively at its 36th (Saint Petersburg, 2012), 38th (Doha, 2014), 39th (Bonn, 2015), 40th (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016), 41st (Krakow, 2017) and 42nd (Manama, 2018) sessions respectively, as well as Resolution 20 GA 13, adopted by the General Assembly at its 20th session (UNESCO, 2015),
Takes note of the African States Parties’ unique biodiversity and richness and their immense wealth of cultural heritage and local knowledge that have come down to humanity so far, and that must be conserved and passed on to future generations;
Welcomes with appreciation the activities of the World Heritage Centre along with Field Offices, the Advisory Bodies, the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) and other partners in raising awareness and building capacities around various issues related to World Heritage and sustainable development in Africa as well as the efforts towards developing policy and assessment tools and requests that these efforts be pursued;
Recognizes the specifically delicate task of balancing World Heritage and Sustainable Development by the least developed countries, notably of the African region, given that it is faced with a disproportionally higher level of poverty globally;
Further recognizes the need to employ innovative and transformative solutions for reconciling World Heritage and Sustainable Development that will take into account the nature, complexity and specificity of socio-economic constraints that these less developed countries continue to face;
Takes note of the Position Paper on World Heritage and Sustainable Development in Africa adopted in October 2018 by the African Union through resolution STC/YCS-3/MIN/Report 67, as acknowledged in paragraph 20 d) of the Document WHC/19/43.COM/6;
Recalls its Decision 37 COM 7 (Part III) which urges all States Parties to the World Heritage Convention and leading industry stakeholders, to respect the International Council on Mining & Metals (ICMM) “No-go” commitment by not permitting extractive activities within World Heritage properties, and by making every effort to ensure that extractive companies located in their territory cause no damage to World Heritage properties, in line with Article 6 of the Convention;
Reiterates the need to integrate the protection of the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of World Heritage properties with inclusive and sustainable development needs through the effective implementation of the World Heritage Sustainable Development Policy (WH-SDP) aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; the protection of the Outstanding Universal Value should be furthermore ensured by including Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), in national and international development projects, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
Calls upon the African States Parties to strengthen governance of World Heritage properties and mainstream the WH-SDP principles in national and local conservation and management activities in and around World Heritage properties and processes related to World Heritage in Africa, and to mainstream them in national and local plans for development;
Further calls upon African States Parties to focus their development efforts to benefit local communities, including them in the decision-making, and building on their knowledge and needs with progressive and proactive conservation of natural and cultural heritage; and to create enabling environments for innovative solutions inclusive of green and blue economies while progressing towards other SDGs;
Calls upon all States Parties to the World Heritage Convention as well as international agencies and development partners, international finance institutions, industries, private sector, and other partners including multi and bi-lateral partners to join in ensuring policy coherence and harness synergies in multilateral agreements, investments, and protocols. These include the UN 2030 Agenda, and the “Africa 2063” Agenda as well as the WH-SDP to deliver multiple benefits, with inclusive governance mechanisms that bring all round benefits to the local communities in and around World Heritage properties;
Thanks the States Parties and partners who have generously contributed to strengthening sustainable development in Africa and invites all States Parties to the World Heritage Convention to support, financially and through other means, awareness-raising and capacity-reinforcement programmes at various levels as well as activities aimed at developing guidance, innovative solutions, tools, mechanisms, and strategies for integrating heritage conservation into sustainable development policies and programmes and mainstreaming the sustainable development approach in conservation and management activities in Africa;
Also invites the Secretariat and Advisory Bodies, in collaboration with African States Parties, the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) and other stakeholders to spearhead research into innovative solutions for sustainable development, providing measures at the operational level, that guide and coordinate the efforts of the African States Parties to the World Heritage Convention for the conservation of OUV in World Heritage properties, both cultural and natural, and their contribution to the sustainable development of local communities in particular; and also to establish a platform of good practices in integrating heritage conservation with sustainable development for African World Heritage properties;
Requests the World Heritage Centre to present, at its 44th session in 2020, a progress report on Priority Africa, Sustainable Development and World Heritage.

46 COM 5C Progress report on the implementation of the Strategy for World Heritage in Africa

wh-support@unesco.org — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 00:00:00 EST

The World Heritage Committee,

Having examined Document WHC/24/46.COM/5C,
Recalling Decisions 44 COM 5C, 44 COM 10A, 44 COM 10B and 45 COM 5C adopted at its extended 44th (Fuzhou/online, 2021) and extended 45th (Riyadh, 2023) sessions,
Notes with appreciation the continued efforts of the Member States to support effective and sustainable conservation and management of the unique biodiversity and rich cultural heritage of Africa that must be transmitted to future generations, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063;
Expresses its appreciation for the activities undertaken by UNESCO, the Advisory Bodies, the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF), the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage (ARC-WH) and other committed partners in implementing the Strategy for World Heritage in Africa;
Strongly encourages African States Parties to appropriate the Strategy for World Heritage in Africa into their national, subregional and regional heritage strategies, and requests the World Heritage Centre, in collaboration with the Advisory Bodies, AWHF and ARC-WH, and with the support of all partners, to support African States Parties in its implementation;
Thanks the governments of Australia, China, Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium), France, Japan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Norway, and the Sultanate of Oman for their financial support to implement activities that contribute to meeting the targets of the Strategy for World Heritage in Africa and encourages other States Parties to contribute financially to its implementation;
Also thanks the governments of Kenya and South Africa for respectively hosting the Tentative Listing Workshop for Somalia and the Mid-Cycle Review Workshop of the Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting for Africa;
Calls upon the entire international community, including the Group of Friends for Priority Africa as well as regional partners and economic communities in Africa to provide support to African States Parties and the African World Heritage Fund in the implementation of the Strategy for World Heritage in Africa and of Flagship Programme 3 of the Operational Strategy for Priority Africa 2022-2029 and to attain its targets, notably:
1. to assist 11 African States Parties not yet represented on the World Heritage List in developing a nomination at their request,
2. to provide support to the States Parties with properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger to implement their costed action plans and to achieve a Desired state of conservation for their removal from this List (DSOCR),
3. to increasingly engage African heritage experts to enhance their role and involvement in World Heritage processes in Africa as well as in other regions,
4. to support the pan-African network of site managers to foster a strong link between management authorities and communities for sustainable conservation, effective management and entrepreneurship,
5. to develop projects focused on entrepreneurship and the adoption of new and innovative technologies;
Requests the World Heritage Centre, in partnership with the African World Heritage Fund, to monitor the implementation of the Strategy for World Heritage in Africa and prepare a progress report towards this end, in line with the Medium-Term Strategy 2022-2029 and Programme and Budget for 2022-2025, for examination by the Committee at its 47th session.

World Heritage Centre

43 COM 5D Priority Africa, Sustainable Development and World Heritage

46 COM 5C Progress report on the implementation of the Strategy for World Heritage in Africa