Decision 44 COM 7B.83

Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (Senegal) (N 25)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 35 COM 7B.4, adopted at its 35th session (UNESCO, 2011),
3. Welcomes the education, information and awareness-raising actions initiated by the State Party and its partners with a view to better involvement of the communities in the management of the property and encourages the State Party to continue this collaboration;
4. Expresses its deepest concern at the proliferation of agricultural and agro-industrial projects in the buffer zone of the property resulting in pollution of the waters of the property and a new proliferation of various invasive species, which constitute a potential threat to the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, and requests the State Party:
   1. That no new project be developed near the property without first carrying out an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) or a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and submitting it to the World Heritage Centre, for examination by IUCN, in order to assess the impacts, including cumulative ones, of these projects, in accordance with paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines and the IUCN Advisory Note on World Heritage and Environmental Assessment,
   2. To take immediate emergency measures to intercept the flow of pollutants into the watershed and define a plan for water pollution control and control of invasive species;
5. Takes note of the actions initiated by the State Party and its partners to improve the management of the property and combat the proliferation of invasive species, and also requests the State Party to ensure that any intervention measures taken do not threaten the OUV of the property;
6. Notes with satisfaction the adoption of the Development and Management Plan for the property (2017-2022), the monitoring efforts that have enabled the arrest of several poachers and the seizure of their equipment, and requests the State Party to strengthen management measures, by implementing Land Use and Allocation Plans to eradicate threats affecting the property;
7. Expresses concern about the appearance of the epidemic of avian influenza in Senegal and Mauritania which has caused a high mortality of juvenile white pelicans within the property, and encourages the State Party and its partners to apply the orientations of the Scientific Task Force on Avian Influenza and Wild Birds in their efforts to contain the epizootic, and further requests the State Party to monitor the impacts on the OUV and provide a report to the World Heritage Centre;
8. Thanks the donors who continue to support the conservation of the property, in particular the Governments of Luxembourg and Norway;
9. Regrets that the State Party has not provided any information on the results of ecological monitoring, in particular on trends in populations of resident and migratory birds, and further requests that it continue its efforts to improve the monitoring and protection of species characteristic of the OUV, and to inform the World Heritage Centre accordingly;
10. Additionally requests the State Party to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission to assess the state of conservation of the property, in particular the impacts of the proliferation of invasive species and water pollution related to the multiplication of agro-industrial projects in the buffer zone of the property on the OUV of the property, and assess whether the conditions for a new inscription of the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger are met;
11. Finally requests 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.