Decision 43 COM 7A.6

Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve (Côte d’Ivoire/Guinea) (N 155bis)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/19/43.COM/7A.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 42 COM 7A.46, adopted at its 42nd session (Manama, 2018),
3. Takes note of the conclusion of the joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN mission of January 2019 that the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property is still intact, but it remains threatened by increasing anthropogenic pressures, notably uncontrolled fires, poaching, the destruction of habitats and the increase in agricultural and forestry practices;
4. Notes with satisfaction the efforts deployed by the two States Parties to revitalize transboundary cooperation, initiate awareness-raising campaigns with the neighbouring communities, organizing surveillance patrols and ensuring ecological monitoring using the SMART tool, however, expresses once again its concern as regards the incessant threats affecting the property;
5. Regrets that no information has been provided by the State Party of Guinea on the mining projects of the Zali Mining SA (ex WAE) and SMFG Societies, both located in the vicinity of the property, and requests that the new Mining Convention between the SMFG and the Government be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by IUCN before its signature, to ensure that its implementation will not impact on the OUV of the property;
6. Expresses its deep concern regarding the granting of an environmental conformity certificate and an exploitation license to the Zali Mining SA (ex WAE) for the mining block immediately adjacent to the property; and urges the State Party of Guinea to immediately withdraw this environmental conformity certificate and the exploitation license that has been granted, and that a revised version of the ESIA carried out in 2015 be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by IUCN, before taking any new decision on the granting of an environmental conformity certificate;
7. Also takes note of the information provided by the State Party of Guinea that the new exploration license for the SAMA Resources is located outside the boundaries of the property and the buffer zone of the Biosphere Reserve and that an ESIA is ongoing to assess the impacts of the project, including on the OUV; and also requests the State Party to submit, as soon as available, the results of the ESIA to the World Heritage Centre for review by IUCN before the granting of an environmental conformity certificate to this Society;
8. Reiterates its position, that mining exploration and exploitation is incompatible with World Heritage status, policy supported by the position statement of the International Council on Mines and Metal (CIMM) not to undertake such activities in World Heritage properties;
9. Adopts the following corrective measures, as updated during the 2019 mission, and further requests the States Parties to implement them:
   a) Ensure that the current and future Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIA), (including those of the Zali Mining and SAMA Resources Societies), for mining projects located in the mining enclave and in the immediate vicinity of the property, be carried out in conformity with the highest international standards, submitted to an independent and expert evaluation, and in close consultation with all the key stakeholders,
   b) Also ensure that these ESIA qualify and quantify the potential effects of these projects on the property, at each stage of their cycle, including construction and exploitation, taking account of their synergetic and collateral impacts, linked also to the transformation in situ of the iron-ore and its transportation, as well as to the socio-economic changes to be expected,
   c) Submit these ESIA to the World Heritage Committee before any decision approving their conclusions and recommendations is taken,
   d) Guarantee that no mining exploration or exploitation license encroaches on the property and that no new mining exploration or exploitation license located around the property is granted without a prior Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment and that it is submitted for prior advice to the World Heritage Centre for review by IUCN to evaluate the impacts, including synergetic impacts, of these projects,
   e) Correct and establish the property boundaries on the ground in the strategic and vulnerable areas and submit an updated high-resolution map of the boundaries of the property to the World Heritage Committee,
   f) In Guinea, ensure that the parts of the hevea plantation that encroach on the property be re-incorporated into the property and rehabilitated,
   g) Strengthen the management capacity of the Centre for Environmental Management of Mount Nimba and Simandou (CEGENS) and the OIPR (Ivorian Office for Parks and Reserves) by: 1) providing a sustainable operating budget for the management of the site, and 2) increasing the capacity of the surveillance agents, their presence on the ground and their technical means, notably rolling stock and techniques, and control their efficacy,
   h) Implement a functional buffer zone (or an equivalent measure) around the property, in collaboration with the local communities, to enable effective conservation of the OUV of the property by, for example, resorting to the establishment of communal forests,
   i) Establish a harmonized ecological monitoring system between the CEGENS and the OIPR, in both parts of the property, to enable a better knowledge of the state and the evolving tendencies of the OUV of the property as a whole,
   j) Together with the IUCN and the World Heritage Centre, identify a list of critical habitats and remarkable and/or flagship species to be the subject of more specific monitoring,
   k) Finalize and implement the management plans of the parts of the property located in both countries, harmonized with that of the East Nimba Nature Reserve, Liberia, and prepare a master plan establishing a common vision for the whole property. This framework will serve public and private donors in conservation activities for the property and a sustainable socio-economic development of its periphery,
   l) Establish a permanent funding mechanism for conservation actions for the property and the sustainable socio-economic development of its periphery, funded, among others, by contributions from the private sector, as the case may be;
10. Congratulates the two States Parties for funding obtained for improvement in the management of the property, and capacity-building of the staff, expresses its concern as to the lack of sustainable funding in support of the activities linked to transboundary cooperation, and reiterates its request to the States Parties to prepare a follow-up to the Nimba Project on the integrality of the property;
11. Also regrets that the widening and tarmacking project of the Danané – Lola road has begun without taking into account measures to mitigate the impacts of this project, expresses also its keen concern as to the impacts of this project on the OUV of the property and requests furthermore the State Party of Guinea to immediately undertake urgent measures to mitigate the impacts of this activity;
12. Requests moreover the States Parties to finalize, in consultation with the World Heritage Centre and IUCN, the proposed Desired state of conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger (DSOCR) developed during the 2019 mission, and to submit it for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 44th session in 2020;
13. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2020, an updated joint report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 44th session in 2020;
14. Decides to retain Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve (Côte d'Ivoire,Guinea) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.