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Decision 43 COM 8B.39
The Sunken City of Port Royal – A Relict and Continuing Cultural Landscape (Jamaica)

The World Heritage Committee,

  1. Having examined Documents WHC/19/43.COM/8B and WHC/19/43.COM/INF.8B1,
  2. Defers the examination of the nomination of The Sunken City of Port Royal – A Relict and Continuing Cultural Landscape, Jamaica, to the World Heritage List in order to allow the State Party, with the advice of ICOMOS and the World Heritage Centre, if requested, to:
    1. Consider the site as a single entity and a relict archaeological landscape which include all the attributes related to 17th century archaeological vestiges, both underwater and terrestrial, of the town destroyed by the 1692 earthquake,
    2. Revise the justification of Outstanding Universal Value accordingly, and clearly define the attributes, particularly in the terrestrial part,
    3. Adjust the boundaries to cover the whole pre-1692 town, as the current proposal cuts out one section due to civil settlement and another area is occupied by a coast guard,
    4. Extend the protection of the terrestrial part to include the linear vestiges of the 1692 town as well as all relevant archaeological areas,
    5. Suspend work on the proposed cruise ship pier and proposed visitor centre until detailed Heritage Impact Assessments have been undertaken for both and submitted to ICOMOS for review,
    6. Prepare a revised or new Heritage Impact Assessment for the proposed cruise ship pier that considers both direct and indirect impacts on the nominated property from cruise ships; this should be based on a detailed analysis of possible cruise ship movements that go beyond the simple red line so far proposed; takes account of all weathers and types of ships and is guided by appropriate technical expertise,
    7. Prepare a Heritage Impact Assessment for the proposed visitor centre that is based on a detailed analysis of visitor numbers and visitor flows and analyses both direct and indirect impact on the nominated property and its setting,
    8. Strengthen the protective legal instruments to guide the tourism development process,
    9. Ensure the availability of human and financial resources to properly implement the actions described in the management plan,
    10. Ensure articulation and complementarity among the different managerial instruments,
    11. Elaborate and implement a disaster management and risk preparedness plan;
  3. Considers that any revised nomination should be considered by an expert mission to the site;
  4. Recommends that the State Party give consideration to the following:
    1. Completing a comprehensive and detailed inventory of terrestrial and submerged cultural resources relating to the 1692 town,
    2. Ensuring that the conservation and protection of the underwater archaeological remains, are guided by the principles for protection set out in the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage;
  5. Also recommends that the State Party invite an ICOMOS advisory mission to the site to provide advice in relation to Heritage Impact Assessments for underwater cultural heritage;
  6. Further recommends that the State Party considers changing the name of the proposed property, as the “Sunken City” denomination refers only to a part of the nominated property and the references to relict and continuing cultural landscape should not be used in the title of a new nomination.
Decision Code
43 COM 8B.39
Themes
Inscriptions on the World Heritage List
States Parties 1
Year
2019
Documents
WHC/19/43.COM/18
Decisions adopted during the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee (Baku, 2019)
Context of Decision
WHC-19/43.COM/8B
WHC-19/43.COM/INF.8B1
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