Decision 41 COM 7B.80

Petra (Jordan) (C 326)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/17/41.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 39 COM 7B.52, adopted at its 39th session (Bonn, 2015),
3. Regrets that the Management Plan has not been finalized yet and expresses concern that a number of major projects foreseen in the planned buffer zone have reached an advanced level of development prior to their submission to the World Heritage Centre and review by ICOMOS, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
4. Also regrets the decision of the State Party not to submit a minor boundary modification proposal towards the adoption of the boundaries of the planned buffer zone and considers that nonetheless the setting of the property must be adequately protected and requests it to clarify the protective urban regulations of the planned buffer zone including its zoning as a matter of urgency, in the context of the development of an overall Master Plan;
5. Also requests the State Party to invite, as soon as possible, a joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS/ICCROM/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission, with additional fields of expertise as needed, to assess the situation at the property and in the planned buffer zone, particularly those were the development projects are located or foreseen and to discuss the development of a Master Plan;
6. Urges the State Party to put the ongoing or planned development projects on hold and to control urban development in the planned buffer zone, until the Reactive Monitoring mission has visited the property, and to submit to the World Heritage Centre, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, detailed information on each of the development projects implemented or foreseen in the vicinity of the property, prior to the mission, for review by ICOMOS;
7. Further requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2018, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 42nd session in 2018.