The World Heritage Convention: Thinking Ahead

1. Having examined Document WHC-15/39.COM/5C,
2. Recalling Decisions 33 COM 5A, 34 COM 5C, 35 COM 5D, 36 COM 12B, 37 COM 5C, 38 COM 5C adopted at its 33rd (Seville, 2009), 34th (Brasilia, 2010), 35th (UNESCO, 2011), 36th (Saint-Petersburg, 2012), 37th (Phnom Penh, 2013) and 38th (Doha, 2014) sessions respectively;
3. Thanks the Director-General for convening the follow-up meeting on “The World Heritage Convention: Thinking Ahead” (UNESCO Headquarters, 21 January 2015);
4. Acknowledges the positive impact of actions already taken, as well as plans for further actions;
5. Encourages all stakeholders to continue to pursue efforts to enhance and facilitate dialogue, communication and transparency in all processes of the Convention and in the framework of the Director-General’s initiative, “The World Heritage Convention: Thinking Ahead”, as well as to address funding implications, within their respective mandates and competence, as appropriate.

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-14/38.COM/5C,
2. Recalling Decisions 33 COM 5A, 34 COM 5C, 35 COM 5D, 36 COM 12B and 37 COM 5C adopted at its 33rd (Seville, 2009), 34th (Brasilia, 2010), 35th (UNESCO, 2011) 36th (Saint-Petersburg, 2012) and 37th (Phnom Penh, 2013) sessions respectively,
3. Takes note of the positive impact of the actions already undertaken, as well as of plans for further actions, and invites all stakeholders to pursue efforts to enhance and facilitate dialogue, communication and transparency in all processes of the Convention and in the framework of the Director General’s meeting on “The World Heritage Convention: Thinking Ahead” (UNESCO HQ, 2-3 October 2012) as well as to address funding implications, within their respective mandates and competence, as appropriate;
4. Requests the World Heritage Centre to present a progress report on the implementation of this decision at its 39th session in 2015.

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined documents WHC-14/38.COM/8B, WHC-14/38.COM/INF.8B1, WHC-14/38.COM/INF.8B2, WHC-14/38.COM/INF.8B3 and WHC-14/38.COM/INF.8B4.Rev;
2. Appreciative of the high level of expertise and work carried out by Advisory Bodies to meet World Heritage Committee’s expanding needs;
3. Realising that the growing number of nominations and inscriptions to the World Heritage List has increased not only the workload but also the financial burdens faced by Advisory Bodies;
4. Conscious of the ample need by a significant number of States Parties for technical assistance and support in the preparation of nominations as well as during the inscription process;
5. Taking into account the present state of the evaluation and consultation process between the Advisory Bodies and States Parties;
6. Taking also into account the factual errors in evaluations by the Advisory Bodies as was observed during the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee (Doha, 2014);
7. Underlines that a consistent application of the Operational Guidelines and the Convention is essential;
8. Calls upon the Advisory Bodies to consult and have a dialogue with all concerned States Parties during the course of the evaluation of nominations, in order to enhance overall transparency and to optimise future decision-making by the World Heritage Committee;
9. Also establishes an ad-hoc working group composed of, in principle, two members from each regional group, at the invitation of Germany, that would meet inter-sessionally to examine the issues related to working methods of the evaluation and decision-making process of nomination and to formulate its recommendations thereon, and to report to the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee.

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-13/37.COM/5C;
2. Recalling Decisions 33 COM 5A, 34 COM 5C, 35 COM 5D and 36 COM 12B adopted at its 33rd (Seville, 2009), 34th (Brasilia, 2010), 35th (UNESCO, 2011) and 36th (Saint Petersburg, 2012) sessions respectively,
3. Takes note of the Summary of the Director General’s meeting on “The World Heritage Convention : Thinking Ahead” (UNESCO HQs, 2-3 October 2012);
4. Acknowledges the follow-up actions already undertaken and urges to pursue efforts in the framework of the implementation plans of the UNESCO External Auditor and of the Strategic Action Plan 2012-2022 which will be presented to the General Assembly at its 19th session in 2013;
5. Encourages all parties concerned to further enhance and improve dialogue and communication within the framework of the implementation of the Convention’s mechanisms and requests the World Heritage Centre to present a plan and a report on the actions taken and progress achieved at the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee in 2014.

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Taking into account rule 20 of the Rules of Procedure of the World Heritage Committee, on the creation of consultative bodies,

2. Welcoming the Chairperson's summary Workshop to reflect the Future of the World Heritage Convention that was held at UNESCO Headquarters from 25 to 27 February 2009,

3. Recognizing the need for further reflection on this issue,

4. Establishes a Working Group on the Reflection on the Future of the World Heritage Convention as a Consultative Body that shall meet for the duration of its 33rd session, with a specific mandate to:

a) review the outcome of the above mentioned workshop;

b) formulate its recommendations thereon; and

c) report back on this issue to the Committee at is plenary session.

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-09/33.COM/14A,

2. Recalling Decision 32 COM 10 adopted at its 32nd Session (Quebec City, 2008);

3. Notes that the World Heritage Convention is approaching universal ratification and its fortieth anniversary in 2012, and therefore that it is appropriate to reflect on the successes of the Convention and also how it can best evolve to meet the emerging challenges it faces while also increasing its relevance and engagement with communities around the world;

4. Expresses its appreciation to the States Parties of Australia, Brazil, Israel, Switzerland and the Netherlands and the UNESCO 'Aid to developing countries' Fund for supporting the Workshop to reflect on the Future of the World Heritage Convention (25-27 February 2009, UNESCO headquarters);

5. Recognizes the participation of State Party experts and representatives of the Advisory Bodies and non-governmental organizations in this Workshop, including through written submissions, in this valuable, inclusive and transparent ongoing process;

6. Welcomes the additional positive discussion that occurred on this matter at the Committee's 33rd session (Seville, 2009);

7. Notes in particular the good progress that was made in developing a Draft Vision for implementation of the Convention, which reflects and builds on the objectives of Credibility, Conservation, Capacity building, Communication and Communities;

8. Decides that this Draft Vision (Annex 1) and Document WHC-09/33.COM/14A should be presented to the General Assembly and the next session of the Committee as a basis for further discussion;

9. Notes that the submissions from State Parties and others to the February 2009 Workshop, and the background documents prepared for this workshop are available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/futureoftheconvention/ for the information of States Parties;

10. Decides that it would be useful to develop an overall strategic plan to guide the implementation of the World Heritage Convention over the next decade, taking into consideration, inter alia, the objectives of the Convention, the principles expressed in the Budapest Declaration, the Global Strategy, and the concepts expressed in the Draft Vision, including those related to sustainable development;

11. Notes also that the Consultative Body continued consideration of possible elements of a future Action Plan, and decides that further discussion of the draft Action Plan (Annex 2) should occur at the 34th session of the Committee, in addition to making the draft Action Plan available to the General Assembly for its information;

12. Decides however that there are several high priority short to medium term activities that should be commenced immediately, as set out in the following paragraphs;

13. Requests the World Heritage Centre, in consultation with the Advisory Bodies, and with input from interested State Parties and external stakeholders, to jointly develop an inclusive plan of action to increase community awareness of the value of world heritage and engagement in the work of the Convention, including through the identification of best practice examples and a communication toolkit to assist States Parties in these activities at a national and local level;

14. Requests the World Heritage Centre to convene, with the support of interested States Parties, a process to explore and develop recommendations for consideration of the Committee at its 34th session on creative approaches, including through the Tentative List process, that might reduce the number of properties that experience significant problems;

15. Further requests that this process also explores and develop recommendations on creative approaches that will assist States Parties and property managers in effectively responding to the range of problems that emerge for inscribed properties;

16. Reiterates its encouragement to States Parties, with the support and cooperation of the Advisory Bodies and other States Parties, to develop and finalize Statements of Outstanding Universal Value for all World Heritage properties for which they are responsible, and notes the importance of ensuring that these Statements are subsequently assessed as expeditiously as possible;

17. Requests the World Heritage Centre to undertake a feasibility study to further explore the concept and implications of holding two sessions of the Committee each year, in addition to exploring other options for more effectively and efficiently managing the increasing workload of the Committee, including by drawing on the experience of other multilateral conventions;

18. Requests the Director of the World Heritage Centre, in consultation with States Parties, to investigate options for increasing financial support for the objectives of the Convention, including but not limited to, voluntary State Party contributions, fundraising, partnerships, Regional Centres, regional funds, bilateral and multilateral assistance, and increased UNESCO support for the Regular Budget, and

19. Requests the chair of the Consultative Body to report to the General Assembly of States Parties on all of the above as part of his report on the reflection on the future of the World Heritage Convention.