Decision 38 COM 7B.75

Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany (Ukraine, Germany, Slovakia) (N 1133bis)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-14/38.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 37 COM 7B.26, adopted at its 37th session (Phnom Penh, 2013),
3. Welcomes the progress achieved by the States Parties of Germany, Slovakia and Ukraine towards a closer transnational cooperation, in particular the establishment of an integrated management system for the trilateral property, as well as research and monitoring plans and capacity building to share best practices, and encourages the States Parties to continue strengthening their technical cooperation, particular in the field of forest management;
4. Regrets that the State Party of Slovakia did not provide any information on the concerns raised in Decision 37 COM 7B.26 and reiterates its concern about the integrity and management of the component sites in Slovakia, and particularly about Poloniny National Park (PNP);
5. Reiterates its request to the State Party of Slovakia to ensure that a comprehensive vision for development and effective protection of the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the Slovak components of the property and in particular its integrity be included in the management plan of Poloniny National Park requested by the Council of Europe in order to ensure that the requirements of the Convention for the co-ordinated management of the serial transnational property, and those of the Council of Europe can be met in one single management system;
6. Urges the State Party of Slovakia to intensify efforts to strengthen cooperation between different Ministries and Agencies relevant for the management of the property and to ensure that the World Heritage status of the property is recognized and supported in their strategies and plans, and to urgently halt unsustainable logging activities within component sites of the World Heritage property, particularly Poloniny National Park, as requested by the Committee in its Decision 37 COM 7B.26;
7. Reiterates that, in line with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines , an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) should be conducted and submitted to the World Heritage Centre for all development projects within the property and its surroundings that could affect its OUV, in conformity with IUCN’s World Heritage Advice Note on Environmental Assessment, and also urges the State Party of Slovakia to immediately halt all infrastructure development that could affect the OUV of the property until such EIA is conducted and submitted;
8. Requests the State Party of Slovakia to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN reactive monitoring mission to the component sites of the property in Slovakia and in particular Poloniny National Park, to assess the threats to the property, in particular issues related to its integrity and management and the implementation of the specific recommendations of Decision 37 COM 7B.26;
9. Also requests the State Party of Slovakia, in consultation with the States Parties of Germany and Ukraine, to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2015, a report, including a 1-page executive summary, on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 39th session in 2015.