Decision 39 COM 7B.27

Cerrado Protected areas: Chapada dos Veadeiros and Emas National Parks (Brazil) (N 1035)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-15/39.COM/7B.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 37 COM 7B.29, adopted at its 37th session (Phnom Penh, 2013),
3. Reiterates its concern that the majority of the Chapada dos Veadeiros component of this serial property continues to no longer benefit from National Park status, and that its integrity is therefore no longer guaranteed;
4. Notes with concern the lack of significant progress to address the lack of protection of parts of the property, as requested by the World Heritage Committee;
5. Recognizes the actions recently undertaken by the State Party to consider alternatives for the expansion and consolidation of protected areas within the area originally designated as World Heritage and its surroundings, especially the launch of a public consultation process to discuss the expansion of Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, as well as the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Environment, the Chico Mendes Institute for the Conservation of Biodiversity (ICMBio) and the government of the State of Goiás to improve land management and environmental actions in the Chapada dos Veadeiros component of the property;
6. Recalls that, according to the Operational Guidelines, modification of the legal protective status of the area represents a potential danger and therefore a case for inscription of the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger;
7. Regrets that no major boundary modification of the property has been submitted for consideration by the World Heritage Committee at its 39th session, in line with Paragraph 165 of the Operational Guidelines and as requested by the Committee at its 37th session, and that no new conservation units have been established within and outside the property;
8. Urges the State Party to resolve land tenure issues in and around the Chapada dos Veadeiros component of the property, in order to enable significant progress to be made with the restoration of its protection status and the design of a revised boundary, in consultation with the landowners of the areas that would be considered for inclusion in the property and its buffer zone;
9. Acknowledges the willingness of the State Party to invite an IUCN Advisory Mission, to discuss the results of the public consultation process and examine the possible need and related procedures of a major boundary modification and re-nomination;
10. 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, with a view to considering, in the case that significant progress to address the lack of protection of parts of the property has not been achieved, the possible inscription of the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger.