VII.18 Manas Wildlife Sanctuary (India)
The Committee recalled that the site was included in the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1992. At the nineteenth session of the Committee, the Observer of India indicated that her Government was ready to welcome a mission by members of the World Heritage Committee and the Director of the Centre to New Delhi, Assam and Manas. In her recent letters, the Ambassador of India to UNESCO reiterated this information and advised that an updated state of conservation report would be available in due course; the latter has not been received to date. The Director of the World Heritage Centre met with the Ambassador to plan, schedule and prepare arrangements for the New Delhi, Assam and Manas mission and to provide related training at the Government of India's request. Subsequently, the Centre was advised that the mission would be welcomed at the end of November 1996. As this conflicted with the twentieth session of the World Heritage Committee and the preceding extraordinary session of the Bureau, alternative scheduling was necessary. Alternate arrangements to receive and review the Manas state of conservation report, together with other reports on the state of conservation of natural World Heritage sites in India and from the region, in the context of implementing the Natural Heritage Training Strategy, are being planned by the Government of India for early in 1997.
The Secretariat informed the Committee that a letter was received from the Government of India on 2 December 1996 indicating its agreement with scheduling the mission to Manas for the end of January 1997.
The Committee, having examined the information provided by the Secretariat: (a) asked the State Party for detailed information concerning the state of conservation of the site and (b) encouraged the State Party to further develop its consideration of hosting a regional World Heritage site managers training workshop in India in support of implementing the World Heritage natural heritage training strategy. In lieu of updated information on the state of conservation of the site, the Committee decided to retain the site on the List of World Heritage in Danger.