Decision 41 COM 7B.83

Tyre (Lebanon) (C 299)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/17/41.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decisions 37 COM 8B.45 and 39 COM 7B.54, adopted respectively at the 37th (Phnom Penh, 2013) and 39th (Bonn, 2015) sessions,
3. Takes note of the progress made in the preparation of the Management Plan for the property and the conservation works concerning some zones of the site (including those containing the mosaics), vegetation control, fire prevention and the establishment of the maritime protection zone, encourages the State Party to continue this work and requests the State Party to provide the World Heritage Centre with the Management Plan, completing it based on the advice and recommendations of the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS, as soon as it is finalized;
4. Regrets that the State Party has undertaken work that could have an impact on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, in particular in the El Bass zone without having informed the World Heritage Centre in advance, in conformity with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
5. Also regrets that the State Party has not taken into account in the parking project the ICOMOS comments of September 2016 and also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre a detailed report on the work undertaken and envisaged, for examination by the Advisory Bodies;
6. Further regrets that the State Party has not yet responded to certain requests contained in Decision 39 COM 7B.54 and urges it to undertake the following actions:
   1. Ensure that the management structure becomes fully operational by securing adequate resources for all aspects of documentation, conservation and monitoring,
   2. Improve the current maintenance practices concerning drainage and sewage control through the establishment of appropriate preventive measures,
   3. Establish a safeguarding programme for detached mosaics and ensure their protection until a decision is taken on their conservation and restoration;
7. Also urges the State Party to continue the implementation of the following:
   1. Continue the work to ensure the establishment of a maritime protection zone surrounding the seashores of Tyre,
   2. Monitor conservation interventions to assess their efficacy and use the monitor results to document the development of the conservation strategy,
   3. Continue to develop and implement the framework for coordination of the Baalbek and Tyre Archaeological Project (BTAP) and strengthen cooperation between the Directorate General of Antiquities (DGA), the Cultural Heritage and Urban Development project (CHUD), the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies to effectively monitor the design and implementation of the project,
   4. Submit to the World Heritage Centre an updated Action Plan;
8. Reiterates its request to the State Party to initiate an in-depth study of the circulation, indicating all the urban and roundabout road network projects, as well as Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs) for the South motorway and its Tel el-Maachouk interchange, and to submit it to the World Heritage Centre for examination by the Advisory Bodies;
9. Further requests the State Party to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission to evaluate the state of conservation of the property and identify the necessary measures to improve the state of conservation of the property and its management;
10. Requests furthermore 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.