Decision 41 COM 7B.9

Doñana National Park (Spain) (N 685bis)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/17/41.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decisions 38 COM 7B.79 and 39 COM 7B.26, adopted at its 38th (Doha, 2014) and 39th (Bonn, 2015) sessions respectively,
3. Welcomes the State Party’s commitment not to authorize the dredging project to deepen the Guadalquivir River and takes note of the State Party’s statement to remove this project from the Guadalquivir Basin Hydrological Plan when it is next revised;
4. Also welcomes the information provided by the State Party and encourages the State Party to continue working on enhancing water resource management so as to guarantee the state of conservation of the property;
5. Notes with concern the conclusions of the 2016 annual report of the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation which confirms that the current level and use of underground resources in a significant part of the groundwater bodies, if sustained, would compromise the good state of underground water bodies and the terrestrial ecosystems and requests the State Party to expedite the full implementation of the Special Management Plan of the Irrigated Zones to the North of the Forest Crown of Doñana, and submit to the World Heritage Centre the findings of the current initiatives on monitoring of the hydrological processes to inform the status of the Doñana aquifer, once they are available;
6. Recalls that the continued declining condition of the Doñana aquifer, if not reversed, could represent a potential danger to the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), in line with Paragraph 180 of the Operational Guidelines;
7. Further welcomes the decision of the State Party not to authorize the gas and storage projects in Marisma Oriental, and also requests the State Party to submit, as a matter of urgency, to the World Heritage Centre for review by IUCN, the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for the gas extraction projects at Aznalcázar and Marisma Occidental, comprising specific assessments of impacts on the OUV of the property, including its conditions of integrity, before any decisions are taken that may be difficult to reverse, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
8. Noting that a research project for Aznalcóllar mine has been authorized but that there is no mining project to date, and that enlargement of Agrio dam on the Guadiamar River is still at a conceptual stage, further requests the State Party to keep the World Heritage Centre informed of any agricultural, industrial and commercial developments related to these projects and to ensure that the cumulative impacts from these projects on the OUV of the property are assessed in the framework of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) mentioned below;
9. Requests furthermore, the State Party to present an updated SEA for the Guadalquivir River Basin to ensure that it includes a specific chapter on the OUV of the property, and submit it to the World Heritage Centre;
10. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 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 43rd session in 2019.