Decision : 36 COM 5C
World Heritage Convention and Sustainable Development
The World Heritage Committee,
1. Having examined document WHC-12/36.COM/5C,
2. Recalling Decisions 33 COM 14A.2, 34 COM 5D and 35 COM 5E adopted at its 33rd (Seville, 2009), 34th (Brasilia, 2010) and 35th(Paris, 2011) sessions respectively,
3. Welcomes the outcome of the Consultative Meeting on World Heritage and Sustainable Development held in Ouro Preto (Brazil) from 5 to 8 February 2012, takes note of its recommended actions and thanks the State Party of Brazil for having generously hosted this event;
4. Recognizing that the conservation of cultural and natural heritage is of critical importance for the achievement of sustainable development in its various dimensions at global and local levels, recommends that, in full consistency with the Convention’s primary objectives, the processes of the Convention should seek to appropriately integrate a sustainable development perspective to realize the full benefits of heritage to society, and the benefits of sustainable development approaches to the enhanced protection and conservation of heritage;
5. Requests the World Heritage Centre, with the support of the Advisory Bodies to convene a small expert working group to develop, within a year, a proposal for a policy on the integration of sustainable development into the processes of the World Heritage Convention, for possible inclusion in the future Policy Guidelines document. This policy should take into consideration the outcomes of the Ouro Preto Meeting, of other meetings that are taking place in the anniversary year across the world and of the Rio + 20 Conference, as well as integrate the relevant reflection from previous and ongoing discussions on related topics, in connection with the UNESCO initiative to promote the role of culture in development;
6. Further requests the interested States Parties to consider provision of extrabudgetary resources to enable the implementation of this and the other actions recommended by the Ouro Preto Meeting;
7. Also requests, within available resources, the World Heritage Centre to submit a draft of the above-mentioned policy and a report on the progress made in the implementation of other actions recommended by the Paraty and Ouro Preto meetings, for examination by the Committee no later than at its 38th session in 2014.
Original Decision Document