Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor

• Earthquake damage (issue resolved)
• Lack of Management Planning/system
• Inadequate legal system
• Accelerated urban development and urban pressure
• Proposed major bridge at Verige and other proposed development projects
• Lack of buffer zone (issue resolved)
• Major visitor accommodation and associated infrastructure
• Effects arising from use of transportation infrastructure
• Land conversion
• Society’s valuing of heritage
• Changes in traditional ways of life and knowledge system
• Impacts of tourism/visitor/recreation

On 30 November 2017, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report with eight annexes, which is available at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/125/documents/ (with the exception of Annex IV ‘Report on Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) for Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor for harmonizing policy/planning framework and instruments’). Progress towards resolving various conservation issues raised by the Committee at its previous sessions is presented in the report, as follows:

• A 2017 Action Plan was drawn up for the implementation of Committee Decision adopted in 2016;
• An HIA was carried out to harmonize the policy/planning framework and instruments, and its conclusions will be the departure point for the specific HIAs requested by the Committee and used to evaluate all new constructions;
• The Study of Protection of Cultural Properties for the Special Purpose Spatial Plan for the Coastal Area (SPSPCA) was finalized and is already being used to inform heritage management;
• A new Law on Spatial Planning and Construction of Structures was adopted. It provides the basis for development of a Spatial Urban Plan for the Municipality of Kotor. It should also include heritage protection provisions planned to be prepared on the basis of the aforementioned Study;
• A new Council for the Management of Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor has been appointed to improve heritage management, and a working group has proposed amendments to heritage legislation in order to improve its operation;
• Amendments to the Law on Protection of Natural and Cultural-historic Region of Kotor have been approved. These include: the requirement for HIAs for development projects in the area; the definition of the responsibilities of the various actors in the heritage management system; and more adequate instruments for conservation and management.

In March 2017, the State Party submitted an HIA regarding a proposed project to construct a cable car between Kotor and St John’s Fortress, with original project data provided in November 2017. It should be noted that this part of the property now overlaps with a component of the serial property ‘Venetian Works of Defence between the 16^th and 17^th Centuries: Stato da Terra – Western Stato da Mar’, inscribed in 2017. A report on state of conservation of this serial property is scheduled for examination by the Committee at its 44th session in 2020.

The efforts of the State Party to address the issues raised by the Committee at its 40th session are appreciated. However, many issues addressed in previous Committee decisions require further progress.

The completed Kotor HIA was requested by the Committee to evaluate the current set of "planning instruments" adopted for the property and its buffer zone, in order to understand which might have a potential negative effect on Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) in terms of development that could be allowed. The idea was that this study could then serve as a basis for "harmonizing all urban planning instruments" and “establishing a clear territorial policy / planning framework”.

This detailed report realistically notes that if all legitimate land-use planning and urban development plans were to be realized, the OUV of the property would be jeopardized. It analyses and assesses the weaknesses of the system, such as insufficient links between protection requirements and approved land-use and town plans. It sets out some proposals but does not provide clear and detailed guidance for resolving the problem through strengthening or harmonising planning instruments in accordance with the Committee's decisions. Instead it sets out a framework for future HIAs to be carried out by a Team of Experts authorised by the Ministry of Culture. At the same time new actors will be introduced into the planning system. This in effect suggests that unacceptable projects can still be legitimately put forward in line with planning instruments but mitigated as a result of HIAs. It is difficult to understand how the HIA/EIA processes can replace inadequate legal protection or lack of planning controls. What is still needed is a detailed analysis of the actual spatial and urban plans in force for the property's territory and its buffer zone, their weaknesses and what is needed to strengthen them.

It is recommended that the Committee request the State Party to maintain the moratorium on any new construction and development until a complete suite of planning and protection measures are in force to satisfactorily constrain developments within the sensitive landscapes of the property so that there is no adverse impact on OUV.  

The draft Kotor HIA and the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction of Structures were the subject of an ICOMOS technical review, which was transmitted to the State Party in May 2018.  An HIA was carried out for the cable car project and has already been reviewed by ICOMOS. This technical review, submitted to the State Party in November 2017, did not consider the proposed mitigation actions to be sufficient to avoid negative impacts on the property’s OUV, and instead proposes that the project should be abandoned.

As many of the development pressures arising within the property are related to tourism (not only infrastructure but also high visitor numbers, particularly related to cruise tourism), tourism planning that respects OUV and supports sustainable development should also be an essential component of general planning for the property.

The recent appointment of a new management council, with improvements to the way it functions, is an important step towards effective management. The council should ensure that the ongoing implementation of the management plan is coordinated with all other planning activities, and that all relevant actors are involved (e.g. the various municipalities).

Finally, the report suffers from a lack of information about the conservation conditions of the physical fabric of the property, as noted in the HIA for the cable car project. This is not only important for safeguarding OUV in general, but is also the basis on which some of the proposed development projects might be safely implemented. There is also no information available on the impact that urban development has on intangible aspects of the property, including traditional ways of life and knowledge systems, which were indicated as being potentially at risk in the last Periodic Report (2015).

It is recommended that the Committee request the State Party to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission to the property to assess its state of conservation, as well as, to consider in detail the various reports and legal amendments that have been produced and how further work might be carried out to strengthen the legal and planning protection of the property and its buffer zone.