Um er-Rasas (Kastrom Mefa'a)

a) Absence of management structures and protective measures;

b) Lack of management and conservation plans;

c) Lack of security and risk of collapse due to open trenches and unstable structures;

d) Important tourism development project with new constructions.

Upon inscription of the property on the World Heritage List, the World Heritage Committee, at its 28th session (Suzhou, 2004), formulated the following requests to the State Party:

a) to submit its annual work plan for the first year following the inscription, as well as the complete conservation and management plans;

b) to review the progress of the implementation of these plans through two monitoring missions.

The first monitoring mission carried out by ICOMOS took place from 30 March to 3 April 2005. As the report had not been made available at the previous session of the Committee, a short summary is provided hereunder. Among the main issues raised by the report are:

a) the site is not protected against exterior potential threats;

b) the general state of conservation of the site is not good;

c) most of the restoration works already conducted at the site were not adequate, notably due to the absence of a homogenous restoration approach and methodology;

d) the site does not receive visitors in appropriate conditions both in terms of security and for the protection of the archaeological remains.

Furthermore, the mission reported some details concerning a European Commission Project which aims at providing the Jordanian authorities with assistance in view of the tourism promotion of the sites of Um er-Rasas and Lehun, through a preservation programme.

The State Party submitted, on 31 May 2005, a document presenting a series of guidelines for the establishment of the future management plan. This document mentioned the objectives of the authorities and the themes to be addressed, including conservation, documentation and management. This document was not a management plan.

In a letter dated 1 February 2006, the State Party informed the World Heritage Centre about certain difficulties regarding the implementation of the European Commission Project, which led to delays in the submission of the documents presenting the foreseen visitors centre, shelters and parking. The elaboration of the management plan had been delayed. Therefore, the State Party suggested to postpone the second monitoring mission until the first draft of the management plan is available, possibly by May 2006. In the meantime, the above-mentioned designs and documents were sent to the World Heritage Centre and are being examined.

In the light of the information provided concerning the site since its inscription on the World Heritage List, it appears that there are some priority measures to be undertaken as regards its conservation and management, prior to any development project. These priority measures, which should constitute the first elements of the management plan to be elaborated at the same time, should be:

a) to clearly identify the boundaries of the area(s) to be protected and fenced if necessary, even temporarily;

b) to address the security issues, notably by prohibiting access of visitors to potential dangerous areas and carrying out the necessary works to cover the trenches and archaeological soundings;

c) to isolate and preserve the most endangered and damaged archaeological and architectural components by establishing a temporary restricted plan of visit paths;

d) to preserve the mosaics with adequate temporary and protective materials (special geo-textile layers and draining sand layers);

e) to consolidate the most endangered architectural elements using temporary but secure structures;

f) to stop restoration works and reconstruction of collapsed elements;

g) to resolve, when possible, using simple and temporary solutions, the humidity problems, notably for the mosaic floor of the sheltered St. Stephen Church;

h) to define the future management structure and financial system which will be adopted in the management plan for the site.

The State Party should define, in consultation with ICOMOS and the World Heritage Centre, how to implement these priority measures and review the current design, schedule and work-plan of the European Commission funded programme accordingly.