Decision 44 COM 7B.184

Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area (India) (N 1406rev)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decisions 38 COM 8B.7, 40 COM 7B.88 and 43 COM 7B.8, adopted at its 38th (Doha, 2014), 40th (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016) and 43rd (Baku, 2019) sessions respectively,
3. Welcomes the State Party’s continued commitment to significantly enlarging the property and encourages the State Party to increase its efforts to entitle the necessary status and designations to the protected areas considered for inclusion in the extension in order to advance the process;
4. Acknowledges the efforts to ensure the meaningful involvement of local stakeholders in the governance and management of the property, and reiterates its request to the State Party to ensure that this involvement is also secured in the process of enlarging the property;
5. Also reiterates its request to the State Party to conduct an assessment of the impacts from existing resource use on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, in particular grazing and the collection of medicinal plants, to help establish a basis for decision making;
6. Requests the State Party to provide an update on the current status of livestock grazing in Tirthan Wildlife Sanctuary and plans to phase out grazing, in light of the decision not to re-categorise the wildlife sanctuary as a national park;
7. Appreciates the positive results of the Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) for the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP), Sainj and Tirthan Wildlife Sanctuaries and also requests the State Party to fully address the management deficiencies identified in the 2018-2019 MEE Report, especially in relation to the immense human pressure in the Wildlife Sanctuaries, and the absence of systematic wildlife monitoring across the property;
8. Also welcomes the development of a technical assessment of the Hindu Kush Himalaya as defined by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), in support of Decision 38 COM 8B.7, through collaboration between the States Parties, ICIMOD, IUCN and other partners, and recommends that this be made widely available upon publication and considered by the relevant States Parties with a view to identifying potential areas for nomination to the World Heritage List in this region, including potential serial nominations/extensions, possibly by making use of upstream advice as defined in the Operational Guidelines;
9. Considering the lack of sufficient information on a large number of issues, further requests the State Party and managers of the property to engage in dialogue and consultation with the World Heritage Centre and IUCN in 2021 in order to consider the implementation of the present decision, virtually or in person as the situation allows;
10. Requests furthermore the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2023, an updated and comprehensive report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 47th session.