Ephesus

• Insufficient legislative protection of the buffer zone
• Incomplete Management Plan
• Need to assess the management planning proposals, including visitor management, infrastructure, landscaping, and transport/coach park

On 4 December 2018, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1018/documents/ and addresses the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee as follows:

• A field survey was carried out at the initiative of the Directorate of Izmir No: I Regional Council for Conservation of Cultural Heritage. Accordingly, the legal protection status of the buffer zone was approved. The buffer zone includes the Arvalya Region, the area between the archaeological site of Ephesus and Atatürk street, the area without protection status on the east of the urban protected area and also the area located on the southeast of the archeological site. (A map which presents the final situation of the legislative protection in the buffer zone is attached to the State Party report);
• The current Management Plan is valid until 11 September 2019. Concerning its revision, the State Party has already conducted a legal assessment of the Management Plan and reported the issues to be taken into consideration when drafting the new version. These issues include the previous Committee decisions and ICOMOS recommendations, changing legal, administrative and conservation status of the site, as well as the rate of implementation of the Action Plan. The action plan will be evaluated in the forthcoming months by the Supervision and Coordination Board, which was appointed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2017. The approval of the revised Management Plan is projected to occur in September 2019;
• Regarding the cable car project, the State Party reported that the project proposals submitted to the Regional Conservation Council were not approved. Therefore, there has been no progress in the finalization of the Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) for this project;
• In addition, a project is intended that targets the modernization and rehabilitation of entrances at both gates.

The detailed information and confirmation of the legislative protection for the buffer zone of the property are welcomed. However, it appears that some parts of the buffer zone have no protective designation – a moderately large area to the south of the property on the western side, a small area to the southeast of the property, and a small area to the east of the property.

Information provided regarding the revision process for the Management Plan is noted. It is important that this revision include research and conservation programmes for the overall property, with a provision for findings to be integrated into future management, education and interpretation, as well as the extension of the monitoring system to relate to the inventory/database of the property. It is recommended that the Committee request the State Party to submit the draft revised version of the Management Plan to the World Heritage Centre, for review by the Advisory Bodies, as soon as it becomes available.

Information about the disapproval of the cable car project by the Regional Conservation Council is also noted. It is recommended that the Committee request the State Party to keep the World Heritage Centre informed on any developments regarding this project. To this aim, it is recommended that the Committee request the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, for review by the Advisory Bodies the details of any newly submitted project proposal and the results of the HIA, before any irrevocable decisions are taken concerning this project.

In addition, while the State Party advises that no major restoration, alteration and/or new construction which may affect Outstanding Universal Value of the property is intended within the World Heritage property or buffer zone, it notes that it intends to undertake the modernization and rehabilitation of both entrances gates. While this information is to be noted, pending the sending by the State Party of detailed information on these projects including an HIA. It is therefore requested State Party to submit the details of the projects and the results of the HIA, before any irrevocable decisions are taken concerning these projects.