The World Heritage Committee,
-
Having examined Document WHC-15/39.COM/7A,
-
Recalling Decision 38 COM 7A.41 adopted at its 38th session (Doha, 2014),
-
Welcomes the significant efforts of the State Party to ensure security of the property and expand surveillance coverage, and the measures taken to punish the soldiers involved in poaching, but notes that major parts of the property remain outside the control of the managing authority;
-
Also notes that restoring security is the precondition for the implementation of corrective measures and restoring the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property;
-
Urges the State Party to prioritize efforts to further expand the monitoring coverage and regain control of the site to halt poaching and the erosion of the OUV of the property;
-
Welcomes the steps taken by the Managing Authority with the support of the Governor of the Province to close the mining quarries within the property and to evacuate the illegal occupants, and the steps taken to cancel mining permits encroaching the property, and requests the State Party to close all quarries and cancel all permits rapidly;
-
Further notes the difficulties reported by property managers to implement corrective actions, due to lack of technical and financial resources, as adopted by the World Heritage Committee at its 38th session, to rehabilitate the OUV of the property, and also requests the State Party to make available to the property the necessary means to ensure their implementation;
-
Calls upon donors to provide necessary financial and technical support to the site's managers to implement corrective actions and to resume operations suspended due to lack of security;
-
Further requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2016, an updated report, including a 1-page executive summary, on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 40th session in 2016;
-
Decides to continue to apply the Reinforced Monitoring Mechanism for the property;
-
Also decides to retain the Okapi Wildlife Reserve (Democratic Republic of the Congo) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.