Decision 40 COM 7B.57

Historic Centre of the City of Yaroslavl (Russian Federation) (C 1170)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/16/40.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 38 COM 7B.31, adopted at its 38th session (Doha, 2014),
3. Acknowledges the steps taken by the State Party to improve the protection of the property through strengthened legislation and regulations;
4. Expresses its concern about the continuing inappropriate construction and infrastructure development projects within the property and its buffer zone, which threaten the authenticity and integrity of the property, and urges the State Party to:
   1. Further elaborate, as a matter of urgency, regulations and rules that take into consideration the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property and its buffer zone,
   2. Restrict land use and developments within the property, with particular emphasis on the establishment of no-construction zones and strict limits to development rights,
   3. Review and revise the Urban Master Plan, with attention to developments in the buffer zone and the zone of the Kotorosl river, in order to ensure visual integrity of the property;
5. Recommends that the urban dimension of the property be fully reflected in the policies, measures and tools adopted to ensure the conservation of the latter; using if necessary the approach carried by the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (2011);
6. Encourages the State Party to commence a participatory process for the development of the management structure and to submit a Management Plan for the property to the World Heritage Centre by 1 December 2017, for review by the Advisory Bodies;
7. Also encourages the State Party to revise the current regulations allowing reconstruction of ruinous monuments and to develop a Conservation Strategy, in parallel with the Management Plan, to guide conservation measures and ensure an approach and methodology that is appropriate to the World Heritage values;
8. Strongly reiterates its request to the State Party to submit, in conformity with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, details of any proposed developments, including those reported as still awaiting implementation, such as the new bypass road, bridges and traffic interchanges around the property, that may have an adverse impact on the OUV of the property, accompanied by Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs);
9. Requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2017, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 42nd session in 2018.