Decision 44 COM 7B.113

Galapagos Islands (Ecuador) (N 1bis)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 42 COM 7B.85 adopted at its 42nd session (Manama, 2018),
3. Welcomes the continued efforts by the State Party to address the Committee’s previous requests and the recommendations of the 2017 IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission, and requests the State Party to address all pending mission recommendations, in particular the recommendations related to biosecurity and to rigorously ensure that biosecurity measures are enforced and fully funded;
4. Also welcomes the efforts to make Galápagos plastic free, and encourages the State Party to pursue those efforts and to share its results widely with other properties;
5. Noting with serious concern the continued growth of tourism and commercial flights to the property, despite the commitment made by the State Party to promote a zero growth model for tourism, reiterates its requests to the State Party to develop and implement a clear tourism strategy that ensures that suitable measures are sustained in the long term as permanent regulations, with a clear action plan with urgent measures to achieve the zero growth model, including maintaining the moratorium on construction of new tourism projects and the limits on the number of flights, and to submit this strategy and action plan to the World Heritage Centre for review;
6. While noting the increased marine surveillance operations, reiterates its concern that ongoing illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing in and around the property continues to represent a threat to its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), further welcomes the 2020 “Joint Declaration by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Chile, the Republic of Colombia, the Republic of Ecuador and the Republic of Peru” expressing the intent of these States Parties to take actions to jointly address this issue and requests the State Party to continue to strengthen its collaboration and actions within the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor network as well as with other States Parties whose fishing vessels are illegally targeting migratory species that are part of the property’s OUV;
7. Calls upon all States Parties to take all possible steps to ensure that fishing fleets operating under their flags do not impact the OUV of the property;
8. Also noting that an investment plan is being developed for yellow-fin tuna fishing within the Galápagos Marine Reserve (GMR) to attract funding to improve management and the commercialization system for tuna fishing in the Galápagos, also recalling that commercial fishing is prohibited in the GMR, requests furthermore the State Party to clarify its intentions regarding commercialisation, particularly concerning fishing regulations within the GMR;
9. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2022, 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 46th session.