Decision 38 COM 7B.50

Old Towns of Djenné (Mali) (C 116 rev)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-14/38.COM/7B.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 37 COM 7B.41 adopted at its 37th session (Phnom Penh, 2013),
3. Acknowledges the efforts of the State Party for the implementation of the previous recommendations of the World Heritage Committee, notwithstanding the difficult situations being faced;
4. Expresses its deep concern about the current state of the property and the limited resources currently available to achieve substantial progress in addressing conservation and management issues;
5. Notes the conclusions of the reactive monitoring mission to the property and urges the State Party to begin the implementation of the proposed priority action plan with particular attention to the following:
   1. Define the boundaries of the archaeological sites and their buffer zones and establish regulations to ensure their adequate protection from encroachment,
   2. Implement anti-erosion measures for the archaeological sites based on a study of hydrological dynamics at the different sites,
   3. Implement measures to address illegal occupations at the river banks,
   4. Define conservation and maintenance regulations for the building stock at the historic town and facilitate access to materials for maintenance actions by the local inhabitants,
   5. Secure resources to strengthen the activities of the Cultural Mission and to allow for management arrangements to become fully operational,
   6. Finalise the adoption process of the urban regulatory measures and strengthen institutional frameworks for their enforcement;
6. Requests the State Party to finalize the update of the management plan and to provide an electronic and three printed copies of the revised management plan or management system for review by the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies;
7. Also urges the State Party, within the framework of the UNESCO Mali Action Plan adopted on 18 February 2013, to cooperate with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, as well as any other relevant international bodies, to identify means to implement the twelve-month emergency action plan;
8. Also requests the State Party to invite a joint UNESCO/ICOMOS reactive monitoring mission to assess the progress made in the implementation of the priority action plan and to ascertain whether the criteria for inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger are met;
9. Further requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2015, a report, including a 1-page executive summary, on the state of conservation of the property and on the steps taken to implement the recommendations set out in paragraph 5 above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 39th session in 2015, with a view to considering, in the case of confirmation of the ascertained or potential danger to Outstanding Universal Value, the possible inscription of the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger.