The Climats, terroirs of Burgundy

Threats identified at the time of inscription of the property:

• Quarrying
• Impacts of tourism/visitor/recreation
• Legal Framework
• Governance

On 29 November 2017, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1425/documents/ and addresses the following:

• Legal protection has been improved, namely through two new “sites classés” (Côte de Nuits and Côte Nord de Beaune), new areas for the enhancement of architecture and heritage (AVAP) for 15 municipalities (14 established in 2014; 1 in 2015), and specific protection measures presented in Local Urban Plans (PLU). Eventually, some 66% of the property’s territory will enjoy strong legal protection, the extant part being protected through Natura 2000 declarations, Controlled Denomination of Origin appellations (AOC), and planning tools. Awareness-raising has taken place in 25 municipalities lacking protection mechanisms;
• The landscape study for the Comblanchien Quarry District’s Landscape Plan was completed, actions, priorities and sources of funding were identified, and specific degraded situations were improved;
• Regarding circulation and visitor management, a mobility study was carried out (May – December 2015), resulting in proposals for strengthening public and intermodal transportation, promoting soft mobility;
• The Department of Saone-et-Loire has been a member of the Association of the Climats de Bourgogne since 2016, participating in all the property’s management bodies. The State Party encourages municipalities to consider the property’s status when elaborating/revising their (PLUs, while an ad-hoc body verifies the PLUs’ coherence with regional territorial plans (SCOTs);
• The Framework Convention 2017 – 2019, signed in July 2017 by political and wine producers’ representatives with the objective of implementing 30 various projects, also addresses biocultural diversity issues through knowledge, safeguarding and enhancement activities;
• The site’s management as a cultural landscape is guaranteed by the overall management framework, and particularly by the Commission for Urbanism and Landscape, which meets as needed under the authority of the sub-prefect of Beaune. An inventory of vineyard landscape features and boundaries of Climats, and Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) cartography, complement the tools for landscape management;
• The current Quarry Scheme “Côte d’Or” has not been updated. However, a regional Quarry Scheme should enter into force in 2020. It is envisaged that the scheme will prohibit quarrying if negative impacts on Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) are identified. Since inscription, only one request for the renewal of quarrying activities has been received (Ladoix-Serrigny), for which additional information was requested.

The State Party has acted upon and made progress in implementing all the World Heritage Committee recommendations that complemented the decision to inscribe the property on the World Heritage List in 2015.

The State Party’s commitment to strengthen legal and planning protection instruments and improve the management framework and its mechanisms is welcomed. Many interrelated actions have been initiated, and some key ones have been achieved, namely the signature of the Framework Convention 2017 – 2019 and the inclusion of the Department of Saône-et-Loire in the management system and related bodies. However, it should be noted that the majority of procedures for reinforcing legal protection through “sites classés” and AVAPs, although having progressed, are still underway and the State Party has not provided a definitive timeframe for their conclusion. Additionally, the State Party reports that 25 municipalities are not equipped with protection instruments like AVAPs. The new Law n° 2016-925 of 7 July 2016 on creativity, architecture and heritage replaces AVAPs with a new easement established by the State Party, (Remarkable Heritage Sites - SPR) for which local actors prepare a regulatory and management document under State control. This new instrument will offer opportunities to further strengthen and expand the legal and regulatory protection of the property.

Advancements have been achieved in developing the Landscape Plan for the Comblanchien Quarry District; however, there is still much to be done to achieve its implementation. It is important that all proposed projects (e.g. by enterprise SEPT) have no negative impacts on the property.

Many municipalities’ planning instruments are currently under revision, due to administrative and legal reforms: this offers an opportunity to make them coherent with the aim of safeguarding the OUV of the property, and therefore the process should be sustained and finalized.

The State Party explains that the Framework Convention 2017 – 2019 has been signed with the aim of implementing 30 selected projects: information should be provided, in conformity with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines. Additionally, the potential impacts of these projects on the attributes of OUV of the property must be properly assessed, possibly by integrating the methodological approach suggested by the ICOMOS Guidelines on Heritage Impact Assessments for World Heritage cultural properties into the specific Impact Assessments elaborated according to the law in place.