II.1 Upon the conclusion of the opening remarks, the Chairperson requested the Committee to adopt the Provisional Agenda and Timetable. At the request of the Delegate of Canada, the Committee agreed to include two additional matters under Item 9: the Green Note of the Director-General concerning the organization of the World Heritage Centre, and the workload of the Committee. It was agreed that the increasing number of nominations and state of conservation reports the Committee is expected to evaluate each year requires a review of its working method. The Agenda and Timetable as amended ...
III.1 As proposed by the Delegate of Thailand, and endorsed by the Republic of Korea, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Benin, Canada, France, Australia, United States of America, Italy, Ecuador and Finland, Mr Koichiro MATSUURA (Japan) was elected as Chairperson by acclamation. The following members of the Committee were elected as Vice-Chairpersons by acclamation: Benin, Cuba, Italy, Morocco, and Republic of Korea, and Mr Janos Jelen (Hungary) as Rapporteur. It was mentioned that Cuba, Republic of Korea and Hungary would be members of the Bureau for the first time.
III.2 The Committee warmly thanked ...
VI.1 The Secretariat introduced Working Document WHC-98/CONF.203/6. It pointed out that this document referred to the periodic reporting by the States Parties under Article 29 of the World Heritage Convention and did not include considerations on the reactive monitoring that is foreseen for reporting on World Heritage properties that are under threat. It informed the Committee that this document had been discussed by the Bureau at its twenty-second session. Reference was also made to Working Document WHC-98/CONF.203/16 that included the corresponding revision of Section II of the ...
VII.24 Lake Baikal (Russian Federation)
At its twenty-second session, the Bureau was informed that a number of laws for the national protection of the Lake existed and that the Duma had adopted the Federal Law on "The Protection of the Baikal Lake" which was, however, vetoed by the President. The Federal Law had been tabled for a third reading in the Duma, taking into account comments made by the President's intervention. In addition to the legal concerns, the authorities had not come to any conclusions regarding the reprofiling of the Pulp and Paper Mill at Baikalsk, one of the main ...
Sites: Lake Baikal
VII.3 Manovo-Gounda-St.Floris National Park (Central African Republic (CAR))
The Committee, at its last session (Naples, 1997), was seriously concerned about the uncontrolled poaching by armed groups which had led to the death of four members of the Park staff, decimated more than 80% of the Park's wildlife populations and brought tourism to a halt. The Committee had welcomed the efforts of the Government of CAR to assign site management responsibilities to a private Foundation and had requested the Centre and IUCN to contact the State Party and the Foundation to prepare a detailed state ...
VII.25 Doñana National Park (Spain)
At its twenty-second session, the Bureau was informed that a giant holding pool of the Aznalcollar mine owned by the Canadian-Swedish Boliden-Apirsa Company burst resulting in an ecological disaster. Although the main toxic flow had been diverted away from the National Park, the adjoining areas have been badly damaged. The Bureau was informed that the spill could spread into the World Heritage area as pollutants dispersed more widely. The State Party had submitted a number of technical reports on the situation and on actions taken to mitigate ...
Sites: Doñana National Park
VII.5 Sangay National Park (Ecuador)
The Committee, at its last session was informed that colonization and small-scale mining activities had been stopped, a new management plan was nearing finalization and that several conservation projects funded by WWF had begun. The Committee had urged the Centre, in collaboration with IUCN, and agreement with the State Party and possible support from WWF, to plan and organize a site visit to address the problem of the Guamote-Macas road construction project and other threats to the integrity of the site. The Committee was informed that the ...
Sites: Sangay National Park
VII.31 Colonial City of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)
At the request of the authorities of the Dominican Republic, an expert mission was undertaken in August 1998 to assess the state of conservation of the World Heritage site of Santo Domingo. The report emphasized the need to balance interventions in the physical-environmental recuperation of the area, tourism development and the socio-cultural development of the local population (housing, services etc.). It furthermore stressed that the effective control by the Office for the Cultural Heritage depends very much on the adoption of ...
VII.13 Yellowstone National Park (United States of America)
At its last session (Naples, 1997), the Committee noted that the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Lands and Minerals Management and the Under Secretary of Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment had both signed, on 12 August 1997, the decision authorizing the withdrawal of mineral entry from 22,065 ha near Cooke City, Montana. The potential threat due to the extraction of the New World Mine by Crown Butte was thus mitigated. The Delegate of the United States of America informed the Committee that since then his ...
Sites: Yellowstone National Park
VII.32 Aksum (Ethiopia)
In November 1998, a staff member of ICCROM during a preappraisal mission for The World Bank in Ethiopia, noted that a wooded site directly across from the main Stele had been cleared of its trees, and that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church had plans to build a residence for the Patriarch of the Church. However, no construction work had yet commenced. It furthermore noted that the Director of the Centre for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (CRCCH), while aware of the planned construction, had not been shown the plans of the proposed building nor was he ...
Sites: Aksum
22 COM VII.33/34
SOC: Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of Saint- Remi and Palace of Tau, Reims (France)
VII.33 Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of Saint- Remi and Palace of Tau, Reims (France)
The Committee recalled that the Bureau at its twenty-second session requested the French authorities a report on the planning for the surrounding of the Cathedral and on the project for the construction of a media library (mediateque) in its vicinity. The Secretariat informed that it had received information from a nongovernmental organization that the demolition permit for the existing buildings on the location of the media library had been delivered and authorization for the building of the ...
VII.34 Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin (Germany)
The Minister of Science, Research and Culture of the Land of Brandenburg submitted the fourth state of conservation report as per the request of the World Heritage Committee at its twentyfirst session. This report was made available to the Committee as Information Document WHC-98/CONF.203/INF.15.
The report referred to the proposed extension of the World Heritage site, the Planning Guidelines, town planning competitions for the Green Centre - Alter Markt/Lustgarten and the Quartier am Bahnhof, as well as other specific building ...
VII.11 Ichkeul National Park (Tunisia)
The Committee inscribed Ichkeul National Park on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1996 and requested the Tunisian authorities to provide a programme of corrective measures to reverse the degradation of the site. The Committee was informed that the Bureau, at its twenty-second ordinary session (June 1998), received a report from IUCN, which provided technical data to indicate that the salinity of the water in the lake may have reached excessively high proportions and that the chances of recovery of the World Heritage values of the site may ...
Sites: Ichkeul National Park
VII.12 Everglades National Park (United States of America)
At its last session (Naples, 1997), the Committee noted significant progress made in the state of conservation of this site following generous Federal and State allocations of financial and human resources. The Delegate of the United States of America provided a detailed state of conservation report on this site, which outlined important measures undertaken to ensure continuing progress in the restoration of this site. In particular, the Committee noted the following:
(i) US$ 26 million worth of land purchases have been ...
Sites: Everglades National Park
VII.40 Burgos Cathedral (Spain)
The Committee took note of the confirmation by the Observer of Spain that planning for the hill and Fortress of Burgos had been suspended and that no works would be undertaken.
The Committee requested the State Party to keep the Secretariat informed of any new development in this matter.
Sites: Burgos Cathedral
22 COM VII.1
Reports on the State of Conservation of Properties inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger
VII.1 The Committee examined reports on the state of conservation of twenty-two properties inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger as submitted in Working Document WHC-98/CONF.203/7 and complemented with information provided by the Secretariat and the advisory bodies during the session.
VII.2 Srebarna Nature Reserve (Bulgaria)
At its nineteenth session (Berlin, 1995) the Committee had requested the Bulgarian authorities to submit a threat mitigation status report to its twenty-second session in 1998. The Bulgarian authorities submitted the report requested by the Committee on Srebarna Nature Reserve, on 28 August 1998, and invited the Centre and IUCN to field a mission to verify the results of measures undertaken to mitigate threats to the integrity of Srebarna. A team consisting of one specialist each from IUCN and the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, and a consultant ...
Sites: Srebarna Nature Reserve
VII.6 Simen National Park (Ethiopia)
The Committee recalled the fact that the regional authorities in Bahir Dar, where this site is located, had disagreed with its decision to include this site in the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1996. The Committee was informed that the Bureau, at its twenty-second session (June 1998) had noted with satisfaction the efforts of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks of Ethiopia and the UNESCO Office in Addis Ababa, to provide more information to the Bahir Dar authorities on the meaning and implications of the Committee's decision to ...
Sites: Simien National Park
VII.7 Mount Nimba Nature Reserve (Guinea/ Côte d'Ivoire)
The Committee, at its last session (Naples, 1997), had requested the State Party (Guinea) and the Centre to contact the relevant mining companies, which foresee the exploitation of an iron-ore mine in the vicinity of the Reserve, in order to learn more details of their interest to set up an international foundation for the conservation of Mt. Nimba. The Committee was informed of a letter dated 20 September 1998, from the Permanent Executive Secretary of the MAB National Committee for Guinea informing the Centre that the Nimba ...
VII.8 Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve (Honduras)
The Committee recalled the fact that it included this site in the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1996, and requested the State Party to implement the eleven-point corrective action plan that had been endorsed by the Minister for the Environment of Honduras. The elaboration of a management plan for Rio Platano is being carried out with a contribution of US$ 30,000 from the World Heritage Fund, as part of a large scale project for strengthening the conservation of Rio Platano financed by GTZKFW (Germany). The Committee was informed of a ...