Decision 15 BUR VI.41

Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve (Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire)

The Bureau took cognizance of the IUCN report on the plan to exploit an iron ore deposit which, though situated outside the Nature Reserve proper, nevertheless lay within the site inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981. The Bureau also noted the remark of a Guinean observer who recalled the commitments contained in the new management plan of the Mont Nimba Biosphere Reserve which the Guinean authorities had recently sent to the Secretariat, and the efforts made by those authorities to reconcile development problems with the conservation requirements of the area. The Bureau recalled that it had been consulted in writing by the Secretariat regarding the timeliness of redefining the boundaries of the site inscribed on the World Heritage List; to this end, the Bureau confirmed that the Guinean authorities should submit an official request to the Secretariat accompanied by a map clearly showing the confines of the Strict Nature Reserve and requesting the revision of the boundaries of the site inscribed on the World Heritage List. This request should be submitted to IUCN, which would examine the question of whether it was a simple modification of boundaries or whether a new evaluation of the property should be made in order to justify its retention - or not, as the case may be - on the World Heritage List. The Bureau therefore instructed the Secretariat to urge the Guinean authorities to submit as soon as possible a new file stating the boundaries of the property receiving adequate protection, and the long term guarantees for that protection.