Decision 41 COM 7B.82

Ouadi Qadisha (the Holy Valley) and the Forest of the Cedars of God (Horsh Arz el-Rab) (Lebanon) (C 850)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/17/41.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 39 COM 7B.55, adopted at its 39th session (Bonn, 2015),
3. Welcomes the Action Plan approved by the concerned parties and urges the State Party to implement it as soon as possible;
4. Notes that a project financed by the Italian Agency Development Cooperation foresees support in the implementation of the Action Plan, notably through the rehabilitation of pedestrian trails, training activities and conservation and by the restoration of a certain number of historic and religious structures;
5. Requests the State Party to transmit to the World Heritage Centre more information on the socio-economic development projects proposed to the local communities and to ensure that these projects present no negative impact on the integrity of the property;
6. Reiterates its request to the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre a clarification of the boundaries of the property and the buffer zones in response to the retrospective inventory and as recommended by the Reactive Monitoring mission of 2012;
7. Reminds the State Party the need to inform the World Heritage Centre, in due course, of any major development project that might threaten the Outstanding Universal Value of the property, before any irreversible decision is taken, in conformity 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.