Borobudur Temple Compounds

• Ineffectual legal and institutional framework for the management and protection of the property (issue resolved);
• Impacts on the stone of Borobudur Temple from the use of epoxy resin, steam cleaning and water repellants (issue resolved).
• Development projects for tourism facilities

Total amount provided to the property: USD 7,000,000 under the UNESCO International Safeguarding Campaign for Borobudur (1972-1983); USD 35,000 from the UNESCO/Netherlands Funds-in-Trust to provide technical support for the enhancement of the management effectiveness (2005-2006); close to USD 2,000,000 between 2011 and 2020 in the framework of the Emergency safeguarding activities for the Borobudur Temple Compounds implemented by UNESCO Office in Jakarta with funding support from the Federal Republic of Germany and Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and other partners.

On 10 March 2023, in response to World Heritage Committee’s Decision 44 COM 7B.29, the State Party submitted a report on the state of conservation of the property, along with a Technical Brief towards Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) for Borobudur Temple Compounds, the Integrated Tourism Management Plan of Borobudur-Yogyakarta-Prambanan (ITMP BYP) dated December 2020, the Final Draft of the Borobudur Visitor Management Plan (BVMP) dated June 2020, an Updated Heritage Impact Assessment dated December 2022 for 11 programs within the Borobudur National Tourism Strategic Area (NTSA), the Borobudur World Heritage Strategic Tourism Development Review, the Plant Species Recommendations in the Borobudur Temple Area, and the Policy Strategy to Develop an Integrated Small Medium Enterprises Center around Borobudur. All these documents are available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/592/documents and provide the following information:

• The four major development projects consist of (i) the construction of a cultural area gateway containing 2 construction programs, (ii) the arrangement of a cultural axis pathway between Mendut, Pawon and Borobudur temples containing 7 programs, (iii) an arrangement of the Borobudur concourse area and (iv) the relocation of the Borobudur Commercial and Parking Area;
• The four major development projects contain 11 programs, and the updated HIA concluded that 10 out of 11 programs should proceed, subject to major mitigation measures with one proposed construction project determined to have an unacceptable impact on the heritage;
• At the time of preparing the HIA, 8 out of 11 projects had already been completed;
• The Presidential Decree No.1 of 1992, which acts as a basis for the current management, is being updated, aiming to harmonize the management of Borobudur Temple Compounds based on the 2010 law concerning cultural property and the 2007 law concerning spatial management;
• Technical guidance for Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs) was completed in 2021, and will be updated to incorporate the new Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context;
• A new development plan for a regional religious centre has been proposed, and a HIA will be required;
• The ITMP and BVPM are being updated to align with the latest national policy and post-pandemic situation;
• The State Party proposes to seek advice and assistance with capacity building from the World Heritage Centre and Advisory Bodies to enrich the Management Plan for the property.

The State Party considered inviting an on-site ICOMOS Advisory mission, but no such request had reached the UNESCO World Heritage Centre at the time of preparing the present report.

It is of utmost concern that 8 out of 11 proposed development programmes have been completed, despite the Committee’s request that work on these projects be paused. It is regrettable that the related documents, including the ITMP BYP, the BVMP and the updated HIA were appended to the State Party’s report only after the completion of most of the projects, despite the Committee’s request that these documents be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for further review by ICOMOS prior to their adoption so that they could be revise if necessary, and inform decision-making for the projects that have been completed. Considering the timing of conducting these assessments, these should be considered as EIA/HIA post-project analysis which serve different purposes than an impact assessment. Although most projects have been completed, two projects have not yet commenced. The State Party should be urged to halt these projects until the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies review the submitted documents and opportunities are provided for any necessary changes.

The Borobudur World Heritage Strategic Tourism Development Review, conducted to supplement the updated HIA, indicated that the other he State Party has been requested to provide the full HIA but has declined to do so to date, so the Committee may wish to request the State Party to submit the full HIA conducted by an independent team from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research and Technology in 2022 at its earliest convenience.

Given that the major developments were carried out without the requested review by the Committee or any jointly discussed mitigation measures, they may represent a potential threat to the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). It is recommended that the Committee remind the State Party to submit information on any proposal that may have an impact on the OUV of the property to the World Heritage Centre for examination by the Advisory Bodies before making any decision that would be difficult to reverse, along with any associated impact assessment, in conformity with paragraphs 118bis and 172 of the Operational Guidelines. It is appropriate that the State Party’s Technical Guidance for HIAs is to be revised to align with the new Guidance and Toolkit for Heritage Impact Assessment in a World Heritage Context.

It is noted that the ITMP and BVPM, both of which date from 2020, are being updated to align with the latest national policy and post-pandemic situation, and it would be appropriate for the revised documents to be submitted for review by the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies before they are finalised. It is welcome that the State Party will seek advice and assistance with capacity building to enrich the Management Plan for the property.

It is also noted that the Presidential Decree No.1 of 1992 is being updated, but the progress accomplished with the establishment of an integrated management body for the whole of the Borobudur National Strategic Area, based on the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 11 of 2010, as previously promised by the State Party, is unclear, especially regarding the inclusion of stakeholders. Therefore, it is recommended that the Committee reiterate its request that the management body should involve relevant stakeholders, including the national and regional governments, private sector partners and local communities, and that the development and operation of the management body should be initiated by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Borobudur Conservation Office.

Based on the above, it is recommended that a joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission be carried to the property as soon as possible to review the state of conservation of the property, assess the existing, cumulative and potential impacts of the finalised, ongoing and/or planned construction projects and of any planned mitigation measures on the property and its OUV, propose any further required mitigation measures, and to consider what advice or assistance might enrich the Management Plan for the property.