Decision 14 BUR IV.A.27

Manovo-Gounda Saint Floris National Park (Central African Republic)

The Bureau recalled that when this site was entered on the World Heritage List at the twelfth session of the Committee, in Brasilia (Brazil), in December 1988, the Committee had noted that the integrity of the site was under serious threat but had definite prospects of rapid amelioration through the implementation of a 10-year project costing US $27 million to be financed by EEC. Hence, the Committee, at its twelfth session requested IUCN to monitor progress in the implementation of the EEC project and report on the extent to which the protection of the integrity of this site had improved. The Bureau was deeply concerned to note that despite the availability of EEC funds and the expressed commitment of the Ministry of Water, Forests, Hunting, Fishing and Tourism to improve the state of conservation of this site, project implementation had been very slow and heavy commercial poaching and conflicts between local people and a commercial hunting operator continued to threaten the park. The Bureau requested the Secretariat to contact the Ministry of Water, Forests, Hunting, Fishing and Tourism to register its concern and encourage it to explore ways and means of accelerating the implementation of a management scheme for the park and arrest any further decline in the values for which this park had been included in the World Heritage List.