UNESCO Regional Meeting on the Second Cycle of Periodic Reporting for Asia

The World Heritage Committee,

1.   Having examined document WHC-12/36COM/10A;

2.   Recalling Decisions 34 COM 10C and 35 COM 10C.1 adopted respectively at its 34th session (Brasilia, 2010) and 35th session (UNESCO, 2011);

3.   Expresses its sincere appreciation to the States Parties from Asia and the Pacific for their efforts in preparing and submitting their Periodic Reports and thanks especially all focal points and site managers for their effective participation and commitment;

4.   Notes with satisfaction that all the 41 States Parties of Asia and the Pacific fully participated in the Periodic Reporting exercise and all 41 questionnaires of the Section I and all 198 questionnaires of the Section II were successfully submitted;

5.   Also notes with satisfaction that all the 166 draft retrospective Statements of Outstanding Universal Value were submitted to the World Heritage Centre;

6.   Thanks the authorities of Australia, China, French Polynesia, India, Republic of Korea, and Samoa for their support in organizing regional and sub-regional meetings;

7.   Also notes the successful use of the electronic tool and the ensuing pertinent documentation gathered in the World Heritage Centre database for future monitoring and follow-up;

8.   Welcomes with satisfaction the synthesis report of Asia and the Pacific and endorses the regional Action Plan proposed by the focal points during the Suwon meeting for Asia, and the Pacific Action Plan adjusted by the focal points during the Apia meeting for the Pacific;

9.   Decides that significant modifications to boundaries and changes to criteria (renominations) requested by States Parties as a follow-up to the second cycle of the Periodic Reporting exercise will not fall within the limit of two nominations per State Party per year imposed by Paragraph 61 of the Operational Guidelines, while they will still fall within the overall limit of forty-five complete nominations per year. This decision shall apply for the 1 February 2013 and 1 February 2014 deadlines for Asia and the Pacific, after which time the normal limit established in Paragraph 61 will be resumed;

10.  Encourages the States Parties and all other World Heritage partners and stakeholders in Asia and the Pacific to actively cooperate and to take the necessary actions to follow-up in a concerted and concrete manner the implementation of the Action Plans;

11.   Also encourages the World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region (WHITRAP), the UNESCO Category 2 Centre, to take a lead in developing a regional capacity-building strategy and associated programmes;

12.  Further notes that the proposals contained in the Action Plans have considerable resource and workload implications for the States Parties, the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies and encourages States Parties to contribute to their implementation through extra-budgetary funding;

13.   Also welcomes the proposals made by the Governments of China, Indonesia, and the Islamic Republic of Iran to organize sub-regional workshops on several issues identified in the Action Plan and the proposals made by the Governments of Japan and the Republic of Korea to financially contribute to the implementation of Action Plans and the follow-up of Periodic Reporting;

14.   Also thanks the Government of Japan for financing the development of a publication of the outcome of Periodic Reporting of Asia and the Pacific, and requests the World Heritage Centre to widely disseminate the Periodic Report among all stakeholders in the region;

15.   Requests the States Parties to continue to work closely with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies to further develop and implement both at national and sub-regional levels operational programmes based on the Regional Action Plans, and also requests the World Heritage Centre to present a progress report thereon at its 37th session in 2013.