Decision 43 COM 7B.18

Western Caucasus (Russian Federation) (N 900)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/19/43.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decisions 32 COM 7B.25, 41 COM 7B.8 and 42 COM 7B.80, adopted at its 32nd (Quebec City, 2008), 41st (Krakow, 2017) and 42nd (Manama, 2018) sessions, respectively,
3. Welcomes the confirmation provided by the State Party that no plans exist for development of the property for recreational, sport or tourism purposes or for construction of large-scale tourism facilities in protected areas adjacent to the property;
4. Also recalling that the Committee has on several occasions reiterated its position that the construction of large-scale infrastructure within the property would constitute a case for inscription of the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger, in line with Paragraph 180 of the Operational Guidelines, and further recalling that the 2016 IUCN Advisory mission discussed plans for construction of large-scale skiing facilities within the property, including by Gazprom and Rosa Khutor companies, and concluded that these would have significant impacts on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, requests the State Party to confirm whether the companies’ plans have been unequivocally abandoned;
5. Also requests the State Party to confirm the status of the land plots reported to have been leased on the territory of Sochi Federal Wildlife Refuge and Sochi National Park, including the purpose of the lease;
6. Recalling furthermore Decision 32 COM 7B.25, which urged the State Party to halt further construction of the road to Lunnaya Polyana, further requests the State Party to provide the World Heritage Centre with a response to third party information raising concerns about the resumption of construction of this road within the property;
7. Noting with utmost concern that the entire area of Colchic Boxwood forest in the property was destroyed by the invasive box tree moth and welcoming the State Party’s readiness to work with IUCN on the restoration of the forest, reiterates its requests to the State Party to:
   1. Develop in cooperation with relevant specialists, including IUCN’s Invasive Species Specialist Group, a set of urgent measures for the restoration of Colchic Boxwood within the property and its surroundings, and to control the box tree moth invasion,
   2. Assess risks posed to the OUV of the property by other potential invasive alien species, which may have also been introduced to the property or the broader region;
8. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2020, 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.