Decision 47 COM 7B.115

Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor (Montenegro)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/25/47.COM/7B.Add.4,
2. Recalling Decision 46 COM 7B.11 adopted at its 46th session (New Delhi, 2024),
3. Welcomes the invitation and facilitation by the State Party of the joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Advisory mission to the property, as requested in its previous decision;
4. Requests the State Party to halt any further approvals of new construction and development projects within the property and its buffer zone until legal, administrative, and institutional policies and planning frameworks are harmonised and adjusted, at national, regional, and local levels to ensure effective protection of the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) and its proactive, efficient management, as follows:
   1. Undertake an audit of the practical application of the 2010, 2013, 2018, and 2019 laws, and considering amendments to relevant legislation to include specific and clear provisions on the integration of heritage protection tools and procedures into spatial planning instruments and plans,
   2. Require cumulative impact assessments alongside, or integrated into, individual Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs) and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), and institutionalise mid-term cumulative impact assessments (e.g., every three years) that analyse and compare actual development with projected growth scenarios and adjust planning controls accordingly,
   3. Amend the Spatial Urban Plan of Kotor and other relevant urban planning instruments of municipalities with territories within the property and its buffer zone to include monitoring indicators, specific protective overlays, and enforceable, heritage-sensitive zoning provisions,
   4. Complete the revision of the Management Plan in parallel with the recommended updates to national legislation, municipal spatial urban plans, and all territorial planning and management tools,
   5. Ensure that the Kotor section of the new Spatial Plan of Montenegro fully integrates World Heritage considerations, particularly the protection of OUV,
   6. Carry out Strategic Environmental Assessments for any policy, plan or programme that could affect the property, particularly to support the development of a sustainable tourism development strategy centred on safeguarding the property’s OUV,

and invites the State Party to submit all the above documents related to the management model of the property to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies prior to their formal adoption;

1. Further requests the State Party to undertake a cumulative impact assessment of all individual projects that have been evaluated through separate Heritage Impact Assessments since 2023, with a view to identify appropriate mitigation measures for any potential negative impacts on the property’s OUV, and to submit this assessment to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies;
2. Urges the State Party to expedite the finalisation of the revised draft Management Plan with a view to making it a fully operational tool for the effective management of the entire World Heritage property and its buffer zone, and also requests the State Party to submit the final draft to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies at the earliest opportunity and prior to its formal adoption, as well as the Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy and its Action Plan, and to ensure appropriate incorporation of the recommendations of the 2018 and 2025 missions, addressing in particular the following issues:
   1. Development issues in accordance with the updated legal frameworks, spatial, and territorial planning tools of all municipalities with territories within the property and its buffer zone,
   2. Protection and conservation of tangible and intangible attributes that convey the property’s OUV and other heritage values,
   3. Establishment of effective and fully operational monitoring mechanisms for the supervision and control of conservation and restoration interventions on historic buildings, in particular developing context-specific conservation and restoration guidelines for historic buildings in Perast and all other historical settlements within the property;
   4. Disaster risk reduction measures following the adoption of a Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy and its Action Plan,
   5. Sustainable Tourism Management specific to World Heritage,
   6. Alternative solutions to cruise ships docking in the Kotor Bay;
3. Reiterates its request to the State Party to submit at the earliest opportunity the following documents to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies before any irreversible decisions are taken:
   1. The comprehensive Buffer Zone study, delineating areas in and around the property where impact assessments should be required for potential projects, identifying and mapping areas of high sensitivity to visual, structural, and contextual impacts in order to protect the property’s OUV, and integrating these into all local planning instruments to ensure consistency between national and local zoning maps,
   2. The final decision on the Verige bridge project and proposed alternative solutions, including an HIA, before any irreversible decisions are taken,
   3. The detailed spatial plan under preparation for the conversion and construction of a hotel complex on the site of the former Fjord Hotel and Jugooceantija building and/or any other relevant information regarding renovation proposals, while urgently completing the legal protection process for the “Jugooceanija” building and ensuring its complete institutional and physical protection;
4. Welcomes the halting of quarrying activities and further requests the State Party to permanently halt quarrying, planned extraction, and concession expansion within the property and its buffer zone, to establish strict no-extraction zones, and to develop a mitigation strategy to limit potential harm to the property’s OUV, addressing issues of reclamation and environmental monitoring;
5. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2026, 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 48th session, considering that the urgent conservation needs of this property require reinforced management and broad mobilization, including the possible inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger.