Report on the Reactive Monitoring Mission to Lamu Old Town (Kenya), 9 - 11 February 2015

The mission was undertaken in response to the World Heritage Committee (Decision 38 COM 7B.49), made at its 38th session in Doha (June 2014) in which they requested the State Party of Kenya to invite a joint World Heritage/ICOMOS/ICCROM reactive monitoring mission to the Lamu Old Town to follow-up on the Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) report, within the context of the Lamu Port – South Sudan – Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) development project as well as the boundaries of the property and its buffer zone. It should be noted that due to security concerns, the mission was not able to travel to Lamu. Instead, the mission took place in Nairobi and included meetings with the national authorities, the NMK, the CEO of LAPSSET, and representatives of the local government and community.