Decision 45 COM 7B.92

Gulf of Porto: Calanche of Piana, Gulf of Girolata, Scandola Reserve (France) (N 258)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/23/45.COM/7B.Add.2,
2. Recalling Decision 37 COM 7B.19 adopted at its 37th session (Phnom Penh, 2013),
3. Notes with concern that over-tourism is having an increasingly negative impact on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, in particular on its biodiversity, due to the disturbance by motor vessels on the maritime front of the Scandola Nature Reserve (SNR) during the peak tourist season, resulting in poor nesting success of the resident population of ospreys, and to the serious impact of mooring of recreational boats on the Posidonia seagrass beds, the coralligenous reefs and the corbels of Lithophyllum algae, which represent attributes of the property’s OUV;
4. Also notes with concern that, despite having acknowledged the threat of over-tourism, the State Party has still not addressed the issue and that a comprehensive Management Plan for the entire property, as requested in its previous Decision 37 COM 7B.19 has yet to be developed, and reiterates its request to the State Party to finalise the Management Plan as soon as possible, including a sustainable tourism strategy and a set of measures to address tourism pressure, and to submit the Plan for review by the World Heritage Centre and IUCN, prior to its adoption;
5. Noting the reported impacts of climate change on the property, requests the State Party to urgently implement the climate change monitoring and adaptation measures foreseen in the draft Management Plan, and to provide an updated and more detailed assessment of the impacts of climate change on the OUV;
6. Welcomes the recent initiative to revise the 1975 Decree for the SNR and urges the State Party to base this revision on the best available scientific data, and to ensure that it includes adequate measures to address tourism pressure and limit visitation, and provides for the expansion of the National Reserve to include a larger marine component;
7. Also welcomes the State Party’s ongoing efforts to create a regional marine nature reserve in the north-western maritime zone of the island, considers this should be complementary to the extension of the marine zone of the SNR and encourages the State Party to extend the property, to include the extension of the Reserve, through a boundary modification in line with the Operational Guidelines;
8. Also requests the State Party to take immediate and urgent measures in the meantime to regulate mooring and the number of vessels permitted in the maritime part of the SNR in order to reduce significantly the disturbance and impacts of mooring;
9. Requests furthermore the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2024, 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 47th session.