Decision 42 COM 7A.52

General Decision on the properties of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/18/42.COM/7A.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 41 COM 7A.12, adopted at its 41st session (Krakow, 2017) and reaffirming the need to implement the Kinshasa Declaration adopted in 2011,
3. Expresses its concern regarding continued insecurity in and around the properties located in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), condemns the violence perpetrated against the guards and the staff of the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN), killed in the line of duty, and addresses its most sincere condolences to their families and all the ICCN staff;
4. Regrets the delay experienced in the establishment of the Corps responsible for the security of the National Parks and relevant protected areas (CorPPN) and requests the State Party to provide, without delay, financial means to enable the deployment of contingents in the sites to render them secure and combat the different armed groups;
5. Expresses its utmost concern as regards the attribution of blocks for oil exploration in the Central Basin of the DRC, that covers several sectors of Salonga National Park, reiterates with insistence its request to the State Party to cancel these concessions and to undertake a commitment not to authorize any new oil exploration and exploitation within the boundaries of the property, and reiterates its position according to which all oil and gas exploration and exploitation is incompatible with World Heritage status;
6. Expresses its deep concern again as to the proposal by the Ministry of Hydrocarbons of degazettement at the national level of one or several zones of Salonga and Virunga National Parks to authorize petroleum exploration activities and recalls that modifications made to the boundaries of World Heritage properties relating to extractive industries must be carried out in conformity with the procedures applied to major modifications of boundaries set out in Paragraph 165 of the Operational Guidelines, taking account of the potential impact of such projects on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV);
7. Also recalls that any proposal for modification to the boundaries of a World Heritage property must be based on strengthening its OUV and should not be proposed with the aim of facilitating extractive activities;
8. Commends the efforts of the State Party to make operational the Trust Fund for protected areas in the DRC, namely the « Okapi Funds for Conservation – FOCON », and also requests the State Party, as well as the donor community, to provide it with adequate financial means to respond to the needs of the protected areas and the World Heritage properties of the DRC;
9. Further requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2019, a detailed report on the implementation of the Kinshasa Declaration, the security situation in the properties, and the status of the oil exploration and exploitation concessions that encroach on World Heritage properties, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 44th session in 2020.