Decision 45 COM 8B.56

Minor boundary modifications - Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, 18 States Parties

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Documents WHC/23/45.COM/8B and WHC/23/45.COM/INF.8B2,
2. Recalling Decisions 31 COM 8B.16, 35 COM 8B.13, 41 COM 8B.7, 44 COM 7B.99 and 44 COM 8B.32, adopted at its 31st (Christchurch, 2007), 35th (UNESCO Headquarters, 2011), 41st (Kraków, 2017) and extended 44th (Fuzhou/online, 2021) sessions respectively,
3. Approves the minor modification to the boundary of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, by enlarging the Dürrenstein component part (Austria) to become Dürrenstein-Lassingtal, and by merging the component parts Paklenica National Park – Suva draga-Klimenta and Paklenica National Park – Oglavinovac-Javornik (Croatia) to become Paklenica National Park component part;
4. Recommends the State Party of Austria to further strengthen the protection of the enlarged component part of Dürrenstein-Lassingtal by phasing-out completely any remaining use of timber in the buffer zone to optimize the corridor function of the entire buffer zone;
5. Also recommends the State Party of Croatia to:
   1. Ensure that the small areas excised from the component parts and buffer zones in Paklenica National Park will not be subject to increased use, especially if such use could result in a negative impact on the Outstanding Universal Value of the transnational serial property, and
   2. Consider an extension of the buffer zone to align with the boundaries of Paklenica National Park;
6. Requests the States Parties of Austria and Croatia to submit further information to the World Heritage Centre in response to above recommendations by 1 December 2024 as part of the state of conservation report.