Manovo-Gounda Saint Floris (Central African Republic)
The Committee recalled that when this site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1988, several members of the Committee had registered their reservations as to its state of conservation and several threats to its integrity. Despite assurances given to the Committee at the time of its inscription and the US$27 million EEC (European Economic Community) project which had been implemented in the region, the deterioration of the property had continued and this site still does not have a management plan. The Committee was informed of the intention of the President of the Central African Republic to transfer the management of the site to a private foundation, and of the invitation made to UNESCO to participate, as a scientific body, in the management of the site by this foundation.
The Committee was satisfied that the State Secretary to the Ministry of Scientific Research and Technology has, in accordance with the recommendations of the Bureau made at its last session held in Paris in July 1992, invited a mission to review the state of conservation of the Park and evaluate the proposal to transfer the management of this site to a private organization. The Committee requested the Centre to organize such a mission, building upon a recent project audit carried out by the EEC. The Committee recommended that the proposal to transfer the management of this site to a private organization be evaluated, particularly in relation to the implications it would have to:
(a) the protection of the site;
(b) participation of local people in the management of the site; and
(c) the social and economic impact the setting up of a private management regime will bring to the region and the nation.
The Committee requested the Centre to submit the findings of this mission and an evaluation of the proposed transfer of management to the seventeenth session of the Bureau.