Decision 44 COM 7B.173

Dja Faunal Reserve (Cameroon) (N 407)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B.Add,
2. Recalling decisions 33 COM 7B.1, 34 COM 7B.1, 35 COM 7B.1, 36 COM 7B.1, 40 COM 7B.79 and 43 COM 7B.29 adopted at its 33rd (Seville, 2009), 34th (Brasilia, 2010), 35th (UNESCO, 2011), 36th (Saint Petersburg, 2012), 40th (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016) and 43rd (Baku, 2019) sessions respectively;
3. Welcomes the efforts made by the State Party and its partners to improve the efficiency of the management of the property;
4. Thanks the donors who continue to support the conservation of the property, in particular the European Commission through the Central African World Heritage Forest Initiative (CAWHFI) and the Government of Norway through its contribution to the World Heritage Fund;
5. Reiterates its greatest concern at the low numbers of characteristic species of the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property and the persisting signs of poaching within the property, and requests the State Party to intensify surveillance efforts, law enforcement of wildlife crime, community awareness and popularization of community alternatives to poaching, and initiate a new wildlife census no later than 2023 by considering the same methodological approach as in 2018 to assess trends in these flagship populations;
6. Welcomes the efforts undertaken to implement the recommendations of the UNESCO advisory mission to assess the impacts of the activities of the Sud-Cameroun Hévéa company (SUDCAM) on the property, and urges the State Party to ensure that SUDCAM continues to implement sustainable and responsible production standards in the rubber sector, in particular independent certification of the latex processing plant in order to comply with international environmental standards;
7. Expresses its great concern regarding the conclusions of the UNESCO advisory mission on the Mekin hydroelectric dam according to which the Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIA) did not consider all of the infrastructure related to the project and were not undertaken in accordance with the IUCN World Heritage Advice Note on Environmental Assessment, and that the construction of the dam has generated significant environmental damage; and urges the State Party to implement all the recommendations of this mission;
8. Takes note of the finalization of the Development Plan (2020-2024) for the property and its peripheral zone, and reiterates its request to create a buffer zone for the property, in consultation with the local populations and the various entities involved, in line with the recommendation of the International Advisory Council on Biosphere Reserves to include the rural complexes and forest concessions which adjoin most of the property, as well as the classification of the concession returned by SUDCAM in the forest domain of the State while observing sustainable usage regimes;
9. Also urges the State Party and its partners to continue efforts to maintain ecological connectivity with the other protected areas of the Dja-Odzala-Minkébé tri-national landscape (TRIDOM) in order to guarantee the long-term integrity of the property, in particular through the implementation of the tentative agreement to take into account the migration corridors of large mammals in the process of drawing up the Regional Planning and Sustainable Development Scheme (SRADDT) for the South and East Regions, and development plans and environmental and social management plans (ESMP) of private sector operators crossed by the corridors;
10. Notes with concern that no information has been provided on the status of the GEOVIC mining project in the vicinity of the property, reiterates its request to the State Party not to authorize this project before an evaluation of its potential impacts on the OUV of the property, in accordance with the IUCN World Heritage Advice Note on Environmental Assessment, and reiterates its request to the State Party to transmit all available documents relating to this project to the World Heritage Centre for consideration by IUCN;
11. Expresses concern about the proliferation of development projects near the property, in particular the Integrated Development and Planning Programme of the Dja Mining Loop and the Adjacent Border Area (PADI-DJA) and further urges the State Party to ensure that no exploration or mining permits around the property are granted without carrying out an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, to finalize the Strategic and Social Environmental Evaluation (SSEE) confirmed in Decision 40 COM 7B.79 as well as the SRADDT of the South and East Regions, and submit them to the World Heritage Centre for examination by IUCN;
12. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2022, 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 45th session.