Decision : 40 COM 7B.78
Okavango Delta (Botswana) (N 1432)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/16/40.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 38 COM 8B.5, adopted at its 38th session (Doha, 2014),
3. Commends the progress made by the State Party in terminating mineral prospecting licenses in the property, and requests the State Party to conclude negotiations with remaining licensees to terminate all prospecting activities within the property’s buffer zone, and to continue monitoring and managing prospecting licenses and mining operations outside the buffer zone so as to avoid any adverse impacts on the property;
4. Reiterates its position that mineral exploration or exploitation is incompatible with World Heritage status, which is supported by the International Council of Mining and Metals’ (ICMM) Position Statement of not undertaking such activities within World Heritage properties;
5. Welcoming the progress made in developing wildlife monitoring protocols, also requests the State Party to integrate these protocols in the systematic wildlife monitoring programme, which should include replicable aerial surveys across the entire property to establish population baselines for key species and to track long-term trends;
6. Notes the measures taken to address management effectiveness, governance as well as access, rights and benefits, and reiterates its requests to the State Party to:
   1. Continue efforts to rationalize veterinary cordon fencing, including through the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA),
   2. Expand and strengthen programmes, which accommodate traditional resource use for livelihoods, user access rights, cultural rights and access to opportunities to participate in the tourism sector, in keeping with the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV),
   3. Continue efforts to address a range of other protection and management issues including governance, stakeholder empowerment, management planning, management capacity and control of alien invasive species;
7. Further requests the State Party to submit the revised management plan for review by the World Heritage Centre and IUCN, prior to its approval, and calls on the international community to provide technical and financial support in its development and implementation;
8. Notes with concern the potential impacts of water resource management in Angola and Namibia on the property, and requests furthermore the States Parties of Botswana, Angola and Namibia to liaise closely to ensure that any proposed major developments within the Okavango watershed which may adversely impact the OUV of the property are subject to EIAs in conformity with IUCN’s World Heritage Advice Note on Environmental Assessment; these EIAs should be submitted to the World Heritage Centre and IUCN for review prior to taking any decisions that would be difficult to reverse;
9. Requests moreover the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2017, 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 42nd session in 2018.