Following receipt of a technical co-operation request and an alarming state of conservation report submitted by the Chinese authorities, the World Heritage Centre recommended that an ICOMOS/ICCROM reactive monitoring mission be undertaken to identify the emergency conservation and site management needs. The Bureau was informed that, with the agreement of the State Party, ICCROM, ICOMOS and the World Heritage Centre were organizing this mission, which was expected to take place in September 1999.
The Delegate of the Republic of Korea brought the attention of the Bureau to the serious need to adequately conserve this important site and recommended that co-operation with relevant national geophysics research institutions be sought.
The Observer of China informed the Bureau that his Government welcomed the initiative of the World Heritage Centre to organize this ICOMOS-ICCROM mission, and that the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the national authorities entrusted to protect the site, had made preparations to welcome this mission.
The Bureau decided to examine further information to be made available at its twenty-third extraordinary session, after the proposed ICOMOS-ICCROM mission is undertaken. The Bureau asked the advisory bodies to co-operate with the national geophysics institutions in formulating recommendations for enhanced management of this site. Finally, the Bureau requested the Secretariat to ensure that the report of the geophysical research conducted in 1997 by Electricité de France (EDF) under the Assistance-Ethno/UNESCO/Chinese Academy of Sciences - Project for Rehabilitation, Protection and Conservation of the Peking Man Site be made available to the ICOMOS-ICCROM experts for integration into the report to be presented to the twenty-third extraordinary session of the Bureau.