Decision 42 COM 7B.91

Simien National Park (Ethiopia) (N 9)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/18/42.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decisions 40 COM 7A.43 and 41 COM 7A.13, adopted at its 40th (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016) and 41st (Krakow, 2017) sessions respectively,
3. Commends the State Party for organizing a major event to mark the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger and the 50th anniversary of Simien Mountains National Park, thereby demonstrating its strong political commitment to conserving the property, and requests the State Party to continue its efforts to secure effective management and conservation of the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV);
4. Appreciates the renewed interest on the part of donors and non-governmental partners to support the property and its surroundings, and encourages the State Party to share the related project documents and operational plans with the World Heritage Centre;
5. Welcomes the follow-up to previous Committee decisions and to the 2017 mission recommendations, and also requests the State Party to implement the outstanding decisions and recommendations, in particular to:
   1. Finalize the new General Management Plan (GMP), to be applied to the enlarged national park and its buffer zone, and to submit it to the World Heritage Centre for review,
   2. Give management priority to realistic, fundable and socially acceptable responses to overgrazing, the promotion of alternative livelihoods and enhanced tourism management, and integrate related objectives and plans as part of the GMP,
   3. Agree upon clear, systematic and long-term monitoring protocols for the populations of Walia ibex, Ethiopian wolf and gelada as soon as possible and integrate them in the GMP,
   4. Strengthen the participation of local communities in the management and governance of the property;
6. Also welcomes the ongoing support to the livelihoods and well-being of the relocated Gich community with funding from the German Government, and further requests the State Party to continue these efforts in application of the highest standards, especially in support of vulnerable households and individuals;
7. Reiterates its longstanding request to the State Party to finalize and submit a proposal for a Significant Boundary Modification for the entire Simien Mountains National Park and its buffer zone, as legally defined today, and requests furthermore the State Party to simultaneously formalize the buffer zone and harmonize the currently differing names of the National Park and the property, and also encourages the State Party to request technical advice from the World Heritage Centre and IUCN as needed;
8. Noting that the alternative road aiming at reducing disturbance of the existing main road in important afro-alpine habitats has been almost completed, urges the State Party to complete this overdue project, and to submit the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the part of the new road crossing the National Park to the World Heritage Centre for review by IUCN, as per Decision 41 COM 7A.13;
9. Appreciates the State Party’s commitment to re-align the power transmission line, which currently affects the property’s exceptional natural beauty and conditions of integrity, upon completion of the alternative road;
10. Also noting that four new lodges are being considered along the border of the Simien Mountains National Park, requests moreover the State Party to ensure that all new lodge developments are located outside the boundary of the national park and to submit the EIAs for any new lodge projects to the World Heritage Centre for review, as per Decision 41 COM 7A.13, as soon as they become available;
11. 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.