Decision 41 COM 7B.11

Los Katíos National Park (Colombia) (N 711)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/17/41.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 39 COM 7A.19, adopted at its 39th session (Bonn, 2015),
3. Highly commends the State Party on the continuation of systematic management responses to the Committee’s requests and recommendations, as well as recommendations of the 2015 Reactive Monitoring mission;
4. Strongly encourages the State Party to:
   1. Further consolidate human and financial resources and the partnership approach, bridging gaps between the government and civil society and among governmental institutions, both at local and national levels,
   2. Further assess the feasibility of extending the Los Katíos National Park and possibly the property so as to include the Serrania del Darien National Protection Forest Reserve (Colombia) and potentially other areas,
   3. Further integrate the property with the emerging regional protected area system and continue the promising efforts to define a functional buffer zone for eventual formalization under the World Heritage Convention,
   4. Monitor the implementation of user agreements jointly with the involved communities, in particular the “Special Management Regime” in the Wounaan community of Juin Phubuur, and adapt the agreements to emerging needs as appropriate and required,
   5. Further integrate local user agreements with comprehensive management of fish populations within and beyond the property,
   6. Further refine the assessment of options to manage the impacts and risks posed by the artificial connection between the Leon and Atrato Rivers, while respecting the socio-economic importance of the canal;
5. Also commends the States Parties of Colombia and Panama on efforts to strengthen communication, coordination and cooperation in the management of the two contiguous properties of Los Katíos National Park (Colombia) and Darien National Park (Panama) and also encourages both States Parties to formalize a specific Memorandum of Understanding in this regard;
6. Reiterates its request to the States Parties of Colombia and Panama to ensure that the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) of the electricity transmission corridor includes a specific assessment of potential impacts on the Outstanding Universal Value of both properties of Los Katíos National Park (Colombia) and Darien National Park (Panama), in line with IUCN’s World Heritage Advice Note on Environmental Assessment, and to submit the results of the ESIA to the World Heritage Centre as soon as they are available and before taking any decisions that would be difficult to reverse, in line with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
7. Requests the State Party to fully assess the possible impacts of the planned port projects (Puerto PISISI and Puerto Antioquia), in line with IUCN’s World Heritage Advice Note on Environmental Assessment, and to report on the development of both projects to the World Heritage Centre, and before taking any decisions that would be difficult to reverse, in line with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
8. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2018, 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 43rd session in 2019.