Decision 44 COM 7B.35

Historical Monuments at Makli, Thatta (Pakistan) (C 143)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decisions 41 COM 7B.97 and 43 COM 7B.73 adopted at its 41st (Krakow, 2017) and 43rd (Baku, 2019) sessions respectively,
3. Takes note of the State Party’s efforts towards improving the overall management of the property, notably by completing the boundary wall, establishing a storage facility for important displaced architectural elements and a documentation protocol, intervening on some of the property’s monuments and working towards the finalization of the Management Plan, and welcomes the State Party’s investigations into the impacts of wind-borne salinity, its efforts to coordinate conservation activities, and the involvement of staff in technical interventions as part of capacity-building activities;
4. Notes that its previous decisions and the recommendations of the 2019 joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission are yet to be fully addressed, and reiterates its request to the State Party to implement all previous decisions and report on both actions and results, including:
   1. The completion of the Management Plan, which should include high-level principles, action plans for individual monuments and projects with clear timeframes, taking into account Decision 43 COM 7B.73, the recommendations of the 2019 Reactive Monitoring mission and the advice of the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS following a technical review of the submitted draft,
   2. The definition of an official mission statement for the overall management of the property, along with terms of reference for the Steering Committee,
   3. The completion of the visitor management framework,
   4. The preparation of a risk preparedness strategy and emergency response plan,
   5. Protocols for stakeholder engagement and community education programmes,
   6. The submission of the action plan for the stabilization and conservation of the mausoleum of Jam Nizzamuddin II, for review by the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, prior to its implementation,
   7. The submission to the World Heritage Centre of a request for a minor boundary modification, prepared in line with Paragraphs 163-164 and Annex 11 of the Operational Guidelines and reflecting the boundaries identified in 2013, along with a regulatory plan for the proposed buffer zone, for review by the Advisory Bodies;
5. Requests the State Party to submit further information about the works carried out to provide waterproofing of the Tomb of Isa Khan Tarkhan-II, including reasons for the apparent installation of such extensive areas of new paving, the use of different size pavers and the functionality of the new system, and reminds the State Party of the Committee’s previous request to transmit detailed information on proposed projects to the World Heritage Centre before making any decision that would be difficult to reverse, in conformity with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
6. Also requests the State Party to continue identifying and making use of opportunities for staff to benefit from national and international capacity-building programmes, in particular for management, stone conservation, and the management and conservation of moveable heritage and detached architectural elements, including their documentation;
7. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 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 46th session.