LAC Action Plan 2014-2024

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined document WHC-14/38.COM/10B,
2. Recalling Decision 37COM 10A adopted at the 37th session (Phnom Penh, 2013),
3. Congratulates the States Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean region for their efforts to continue follow-up actions to the exercise of the second cycle of the Periodic Reporting exercise for Latin America and the Caribbean, and adopts the 2014-2024 regional Action Plan;
4. Notes with appreciation the support of the Government of Brazil and the National Institute for Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) in organizing the regional meeting “Towards defining an Action Plan for World Heritage in Latin America and the Caribbean”, in close cooperation with the World Heritage Centre, UNESCO Office in Brasilia, the Advisory Bodies and the category 2 centres of the Region;
5. EncouragesStates Parties and all other World Heritage partners and stakeholders in Latin America and the Caribbean to cooperate actively to ensure the implementation of the Action Plan,  which reflects regional priorities to include, but not limited to, education and public awareness, disaster risk management, integrated heritage management, and sustainable tourism in World Heritage properties;
6. Calls upon the States Parties from the Region to support the implementation of the 2014-2024 Action Plan and also encourages them to provide technical and financial resources at national level for its implementation;
7. Further encourages States Parties to continue working, in close cooperation with the World Heritage Centre, Advisory Bodies and the Region’s category 2 centres, to develop sub-regional action plans, based on the Action Plan and taking into consideration and building upon the achievements of the previous plan with a focus on the specific needs of each sub-region;
8. Acknowledges the progress made by the States Parties of Mexico and Brazil in effectively establishing the UNESCO category 2 centre for the World Heritage in Zacatecas, Mexico, as well as the UNESCO Lucio Costa category 2 centre of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and strongly encourages them to continue their efforts in cooperation with the World Heritage Centre, States Parties and Advisory Bodies to initiate a capacity-building programme for the management and conservation of World Heritage in the region;
9. Also calls upon States Parties from other regions to support the efforts of the Latin American and the Caribbean Region in implementing the Action Plan, in the spirit of the international cooperation promoted by the World Heritage Convention;
10. Reminds States Parties which have not already done so to submit their Retrospective Statements of Outstanding Universal Value by 1 February 2015 at the latest, as well as clarifications of boundaries by 1 December 2014 at the latest;
11. Requests the World Heritage Centre to provide information on the progress made in the implementation of the regional Action Plan and sub-regional action plans at its 40th session in 2016.

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The World Heritage Committee,

1.  Having examined document WHC-13/37.COM/10A,

2.  Recalling Decisions 32 COM 11D, 34 COM 10B.2, 35 COM 10B and 36 COM 10C adopted respectively at its 32nd (Quebec City, 2008), 34th (Brasilia, 2010), 35th (UNESCO, 2011) and 36th (Saint Petersburg, 2012) sessions,

3.  Expresses its sincere appreciation to the States Parties from Latin America and the Caribbean for their efforts in preparing and submitting their Periodic Reports and thanks especially all focal points and site managers for their effective participation and commitment;

4.  Notes with satisfaction that all the 32 States Parties from Latin America and the Caribbean have participated actively in the Periodic Reporting exercise and 29 Section I questionnaires and 122 Section II questionnaires were successfully submitted;

5.  Reiterates its satisfaction that at the moment of the launching of the second cycle, 116 draft retrospective Statements of Outstanding Universal Value were submitted and welcomes the final submission of 66 Statements for adoption by the World Heritage Committee at its 37th session;

6.  Thanks the authorities of Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic and Mexico for their support in successfully organizing regional and sub-regional meetings, in collaboration with the World Heritage Centre and UNESCO field offices;

7.  Takes note of the successful use of the special electronic platform as an indispensable tool in providing the comprehensive documentation, gathered in the World Heritage Centre database for future monitoring and follow-up of the Action Plan and acknowledges the importance of this tool in developing the thematic working groups and their related programmes;

8.  Welcomes with satisfaction the synthesis report and endorses the proposal to develop the Action Plan to be submitted to the World Heritage Committee at its 38th session for evaluation;

9.  Requests the World Heritage Centre to develop the above-mentioned Action Plan, in collaboration with the States Parties of the region, the Advisory Bodies, the focal points, site managers and the World Heritage related-Category 2 Centres in the region and other partners;

10.  Also takes note of the significant progress made concerning the Retrospective Inventory for the region, both in terms of clarification of boundaries and minor boundary modifications and also requests the States Parties to continue participating actively in this regard, especially when clarifications or modifications of boundaries have been requested by the World Heritage Committee in relation to the evaluation of the state of conservation of the respective properties;

11.  Also thanks the Government of Spain for financing the translation of the Report containing the results of the Second Cycle of the Periodic Reporting into Spanish, further requests the World Heritage Centre to widely disseminate the Report among all stakeholders in the region, encourages the publication of the report in the World Heritage Papers series and calls on the international community to support the request;

12.  Decides that the significant modifications to boundaries and changes to criteria (re-nominations) requested by States Parties as a follow-up to the Second Cycle of the Periodic Reporting Exercise will not fall within the limit of two nominations per State Party per year imposed by Paragraph 61 of the Operational Guidelines , while they will still fall within the overall limit of forty-five complete nominations per year. This decision shall apply for the 1 February 2014 and 1 February 2015 deadlines for the Latin America and the Caribbean Region, after which time the normal limit established in Paragraph 61 will be resumed;

13.  Encourages the States Parties and all other World Heritage partners and stakeholders, including the UNESCO Category 2 Centres in the Region, to actively cooperate and to take the necessary actions to follow-up, in a concerted and concrete manner, towards the development of the Action Plan;

14.  Also encourages UNESCO Category 2 Centre for World Heritage of Zacatecas (Mexico) and the UNESCO Category 2 Centre Lucio Costa of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) for heritage management, when appropriate, to coordinate their activities and the development of learning tools in Portuguese and Spanish to implement the capacity-building strategy and associated programmes, also welcomes the establishment of an observatory for heritage management foreseen in Brazil, and calls for a close cooperation with the Caribbean Capacity building Programme (CCBP);

15.  Recognizes the valuable role played by local communities, including indigenous peoples, in the management of cultural and natural heritage properties and further encourages programmes at Latin America and the Caribbean World Heritage properties to also focus on the active involvement and participation of the local communities in their implementation and derivation of direct benefits;

16.  Also calls on the States Parties to cooperate with technical and financial resources at the national level to implement the Action Plan, and on the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies to provide support for its implementation.

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The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-11/35.COM/12A,

2. Recalling Decisions 32 COM 10 adopted at its 32nd session (Quebec City, 2008), 33 COM 14A.2 adopted at its 33rd session (Seville, 2009), 34COM 12 adopted at its 34th session (Brasilia, 2010) and Resolution 17 GA 9 adopted at the 17th General Assembly of States Parties (UNESCO, 2009),

3. Notes that the World Heritage Convention is fast approaching a number of important milestones, including its 40th anniversary in 2012, the potential inscription of the 1000th property to the World Heritage List, and near universal ratification and that it is therefore appropriate to reflect on the successes of the Convention and on how it can best evolve to meet emerging challenges;

4. Recognizes the ongoing open-ended and inclusive participation of States Parties, Advisory Bodies, various UNESCO related institutions, programmes and networks, and non-governmental organizations in promoting and implementing the World Heritage Convention, including in relation to the transparent process of reflection on the future directions of the Convention;

5. Also notes that documents relating to the process of reflection on the future of the World Heritage Convention continue to be available for States Parties and other interested organizations at http://whc.unesco.org/en/futureoftheconvention/;

6. Also recalling that a consultative body was established under Rule 20 of its Rules of Procedure, and welcomes the progress made on the reflection on the future of the Convention at the Committee's 35th session (UNESCO Headquarters, 2011);

7. Expresses its appreciation to States Parties, Advisory Bodies, UNESCO Category 2 Centres specializing in cultural and natural heritage, and non-governmental organizations for their written submissions on the overall framework and particular activities that could be contained within the Strategic Action Plan, as well as the Draft Vision;

8. Takes note of the positive progress made in developing the draft Strategic Action Plan and Vision to guide the implementation of the World Heritage Convention over the decade 2012-2022 and the need to continue to reflect on the draft Strategic Action Plan and Vision as well as the activities to be described within the Strategic Action Plan;

9. Requests the Chair of the Consultative Group and the World Heritage Centre to expeditiously streamline and further refine the draft Strategic Action Plan and Vision, taking into account the discussions at the 33rd, 34th and 35th sessions of the World Heritage Committee, written submissions received, as well as the discussions at the 17th General Assembly of States Parties;

10. Decides to transmit the streamlined and refined draft Strategic Action Plan and Vision to the 18th session of the General Assembly of States Parties for consideration;

11. Notes the independent evaluation of the Global Strategy and PACT initiative, and in particular its recommendations (Document WHC-11/35.COM/INF.9A) to be transmitted to the 18th session of the General Assembly of States Parties for careful examination and reflection and requests the World Heritage Centre to seek written comments from States Parties on this document expeditiously for distribution on the World Heritage Centre website at http://whc.unesco.org/en/futureoftheconvention/

12. Also notes the need to develop an Implementation Plan to operationalise the priorities detailed in the Draft Strategic Action Plan and Vision, as well as priorities for international assistance as outlined in paragraph 235 of the Operational Guidelines, and further requests the World Heritage Centre to work with the Advisory Bodies to develop a draft Implementation Plan, including potential sources of funding for actions included within it, for consideration by the 36th session of the World Heritage Committee (2012), drawing upon inter alia the external audits on the implementation of the Global Strategy from its inception in 1994 to 2011 and the Partnership for Conservation Initiative (PACT), other existing strategy documents (such as the World Heritage Capacity Building Strategy and the Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy), as well as the recommendations of the expert working group meetings held on:

• the global state of conservation challenges for World Heritage properties (Dakar, Senegal, 13-15 April 2011),
• decision-making procedures of the statutory organs of the World Heritage Convention (Manama, Bahrain, 15-17 December 2010),
• improvements to 'upstream processes' prior to consideration of nominations by the World Heritage Committee (Phuket, Thailand, 27-29 April 2010),
• the relationship between the World Heritage Convention, conservation and sustainable development (Paraty, Brazil, 29-31 March 2010);

13. Recommends the 18th session of the General Assembly takes note of documents WHC-11/35.COM/12A, WHC-11/35.COM/12B, WHC-11/35.COM/12C, WHC-11/35.COM/12D and WHC-11/35.COM/INF.7C, as part of a summary of the work undertaken in relation to the reflection on the future of the Convention.

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