Decision 42 COM 7B.70

Sagarmatha National Park (Nepal) (N 120)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/18/42.COM/7B.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 40 COM 7B.89, adopted at its 40th session (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016),
3. Welcomes the completion and on-going implementation of the 2016-2020 Management Plan for the property and its nationally designated buffer zone, and urges the State Party to pay particular attention to the recommendations of the 2016 Advisory mission, including but not limited to firewood collection, tourism management, management of solid and liquid waste, and unregulated and poorly controlled helicopter use resulting in noise pollution, visual impacts and disturbance of wildlife;
4. Welcoming the information that the Supreme Court has reached a verdict regarding the Kongde View Resort, requests the State Party to submit this verdict upon its completion to the World Heritage Centre;
5. Notes with appreciation the reported close coordination between the National Park authorities and the UNDP-funded “Community Based Flood and Glacial Lake Outburst Risk Reduction” project, and also requests the State Party to continue monitoring of compliance with environmental measures and to fully involve local communities to ensure respect of their cultural and spiritual values and practices throughout the project cycle;
6. Also notes with appreciation the submission of an improved map displaying the property and its nationally designated buffer zone, as well as the proposal in the Management Plan to consider introducing zonation as a management instrument within the property, and further requests the State Party to develop such a zonation system, including as a means to ensure appropriate provisions for enclave villages located within the property;
7. Noting that consultations with local communities suggest no current support for the formalization of the nationally designated buffer zone to the national park as a buffer zone to the property, nevertheless reiterates its encouragement to the State Party to submit a minor boundary modification, consistent with the Operational Guidelines, to establish a buffer zone as such formalization will neither increase the size of the property nor impose any limitations on the local communities beyond the existing legal provisions at the national level;
8. Requests furthermore the State Party to ensure that the Social and Environmental Impact Assessments for the proposed optical fibre and ropeway projects include a specific assessment of potential impacts on Outstanding Universal Value, in conformity with IUCN’s World Heritage Advice Note on Environmental Assessment, and to submit the assessments to the World Heritage Centre for review by IUCN prior to making any decisions that would be difficult to reverse, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
9. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2019, 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 44th session in 2020.