The World Heritage Committee,
- Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B,
- Recalling Decisions 38 COM 8B.5 and 42 COM 7B.89, adopted at its 38th (Doha, 2014) and 42nd (Manama, 2018) sessions respectively,
- Warmly welcomes the increased cooperation between the States Parties of Botswana, Angola and Namibia through the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission (OKACOM), in particular the initiation of the process to conduct a comprehensive Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in order to assess impacts of developments in the Cubango-Okavango River Basin (CORB) at the strategic level and at the landscape scale, as was requested by the Committee, and the development of a basin-wide Environmental Monitoring Framework;
- Encourages the States Parties of Angola, Botswana and Namibia on their initiative to review the feasibility of a transboundary or -national extension of the property to include key areas of the CORB, which would contribute to a better protection of the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) and in particular the integrity of the property;
- Reiterates the importance of an adequate protection of the CORB to ensure the long-term survival of the property and considers that any development in the watershed, which would lead to significant water abstraction or pollution, has a high potential to impact the OUV of the property;
- Expresses concern about the granting of oil exploration licenses in environmentally sensitive areas within the Okavango river basin in northwestern Botswana and northeastern Namibia that could result in potential negative impact on the property in case of spills or pollution;
- Urges the States Parties of Botswana and Namibia to ensure that potential further steps to develop the oil project, which include the use of new exploration techniques, are subject to rigorous and critical prior review, including through Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that corresponds to international standards, including an assessment of social impacts and a review of potential impacts on the World Heritage property, in line with the IUCN World Heritage Advice Note on Environmental Assessment, and requests that all such assessments are submitted to the World Heritage Centre, for review by IUCN;
- Appreciates the efforts to revise the Okavango Delta Management Plan (ODMP) and its submission to the World Heritage Centre, and also requests the State Party to finalise the plan following IUCN’s review;
- Also appreciates the on-going efforts to control invasive alien species that threaten the ecological integrity of the property, and further requests the State Party to include control strategies and a comprehensive monitoring plan in the revised ODMP;
- Also recalling that veterinary cordon fences create a major impediment to wildlife migrations, expresses its concern that an EIA has not yet been undertaken in this regard, and reiterates its request to the State Party to continue efforts to rationalize veterinary cordon fencing, removing them when possible;
- Also reiterates its requests to the State Party to:
- Complement the EIA for the Mohembo bridge project with a specific assessment of the potential impacts of the construction and use of the bridge and the road on the property’s OUV, and submit it to the World Heritage Centre for review by IUCN,
- Submit the results of the 2019 aerial wildlife surveys to the World Heritage Centre and set up a regular monitoring programme of wildlife populations using the 2019 data as a baseline,
- Take measures to ensure that all wastewater generating facilities in the property comply with national wastewater pollution standards and avoid any effluent disposal methods that could impact the OUV of the property, ensuring regular monitoring of water quality;
- Requests furthermore the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 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 45th session.