WHC-04/28.COM/INF.14B Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage IUCN Evaluation of Nominations of Natural and Mixed Properties to the World Heritage List Report to the World Heritage Committee Twenty-eighth session 28 June – 7 July 2004 – Suzhou, China Prepared by IUCN – The World Conservation Union April 2004 Table of Contents Introduction IUCN Technical Evaluation Reports A.1 Natural Properties ID No Page Arab States Hawar Islands - Bahrain N 1126 1 Asia Pacific Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra – Indonesia N 1167 9 Europe / North America Rock Cities of the Bohemian Paradise - Czech Republic N 1129 25 Ilulissat Icefjord – Denmark N 1149 37 Ilhas Selvagens – Portugal N 1151 45 Primeval Forests of Slovakia – Slovakia N 1133 55 Latin America /Caribbean Corcovado National Park and Isla del Caño Biological Reserve – N 1128 65 Costa Rica Coiba National Park – Panama N 1138 73 Pitons Management Area – Saint Lucia N 1161 81 A2 Deferred Nominations for which additional information has been received Africa The Cape Floral Region of South Africa – South Africa N 1007 Rev 95 Europe / North America Palaeohabitat of Tarnóc – Hungary N 667 Rev 107 Natural System of "Wrangel Island" Reserve - Russian N 1023 Rev 115 Federation A3 Extension of properties inscribed on the World Heritage List Europe / North America Western Caucasus (Extension to include the Teberdinskiy N 900 Bis 127 Reserve) - Russian Federation Gough Island Wildlife Reserve (extension to include N 740 Bis 137 Inaccessible Island) - United Kingdom Latin America / Caribbean Area de Conservación Guancaste (Extension to include the N 928 Bis 143 Sector Santa Elena) - Costa Rica ID No Page B. Mixed Properties B.1 New nominations Latin America / Caribbean Cajas Lakes and Ruins of Paredones – Ecuador N/C 1124 147 B.2 Extensions of properties inscribed on the World Heritage List to include additional Natural Criteria Europe / North America St. Kilda (Hirta) renomination to include cultural criteria and extension to N/C 387 Bis 155 include marine area - United Kingdom C. Cultural Properties Europe / North America The Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley - Andorra C1160 165 Þingvellir National Park – Iceland C1152 173 Vegaøyan –The Vega Archipelago – Norway C1143 181 Numerical Index of IUCN Evaluations of properties to be examined by the World Heritage Committee at its 28th Session ID Number State Party World Heritage Property Proposed Page N/C 387 Bis United Kingdom St Kilda (Hirta) ¨155 N 667 Rev Hungary Palaeohabitat of Tarnóc 107 N 740 Bis United Kingdom Gough Island Wildlife Reserve 137 N 900 Bis Russian Federation Western Caucasus 127 N 928 Bis Costa Rica Area de Conservación Guancaste 143 N 1007 Rev South Africa Cape Floral Region of South Africa 95 N 1023 Rev Russian Federation Natural System of "Wrangel Island" 115 Reserve N/C 1124 Ecuador Cajas Lakes and the Ruins of Paredones 147 N 1126 Kingdom of Bahrain Hawar Islands 1 N 1128 Costa Rica Corcovado National Park and Isla del 65 Caňo Biological Reserve N 1129 Czech Republic Rock Cities of the Bohemian Paradise 25 N 1133 Slovakia Primeval Forests of Slovakia 55 N 1138 Panama Coiba National Park 73 C 1143 Norway Vegaøyan – The Vega Archipelago 181 N 1149 Denmark Ilulissat Icefjord 37 N 1151 Portugal Selvagens Islands 45 C 1152 Iceland Pingvellir National Park 173 C 1160 Andorra The Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley 165 N 1161 Saint Lucia Pitons Management Area 81 N 1167 Indonesia Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra 9 THE WORLD HERITAGE CONVENTION IUCN TECHNICAL EVALUATION REPORTS April 2004 1. INTRODUCTION This technical evaluation report of natural sites nominated for inclusion on the World Heritage List has been conducted by the Programme on Protected Areas (PPA) of IUCN – The World Conservation Union. PPA co-ordinates IUCN's input to the World Heritage Convention. It also co-ordinates activities of IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) which is the world's leading expert network of protected area managers and specialists. In carrying out its function under the World Heritage Convention IUCN has been guided by four principles: (i) the need to ensure the highest standards of quality control and institutional memory in relation to technical evaluation, monitoring and other associated activities; (ii) the need to increase the use of specialist networks of IUCN, especially WCPA, but also other relevant IUCN Commissions and specialist networks; (iii) the need to work in support of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and States Parties to examine how IUCN can creatively and effectively support the World Heritage Convention and individual sites as “flagships” for biodiversity conservation; and (iv) the need to increase the level of effective partnership between IUCN and the World Heritage Centre, ICOMOS and ICCROM. Members of the expert network of WCPA carry out the majority of technical evaluation missions. This allows for the involvement of regional natural heritage experts and broadens the capacity of IUCN with regard to its work under the World Heritage Convention. Reports from field missions and comments from a large number of international reviewers are comprehensively examined by the IUCN World Heritage Panel. PPA then prepares the final technical evaluation reports which are outlined in this document. IUCN has also placed emphasis on providing input and support to ICOMOS in relation to cultural landscapes and other cultural nominations which have important natural values. IUCN recognises that nature and culture are strongly linked and that many natural World Heritage sites have important cultural values. The WCPA membership network now totals over 1400 protected area managers and specialists from 120 countries. This network has provided much of the basis for conducting the IUCN technical evaluations. In addition, the Protected Areas Programme has been able to call on experts from IUCN's other five Commissions (Species Survival, Environmental Law, Education and Communication, Ecosystem Management, and Environmental, Economic and Social Policy), from other specialist offices in the IUCN Secretariat, and from scientific contacts in universities and other international agencies. This highlights the considerable “added value” from investing in the use of the extensive networks of IUCN and partner institutions. 2. FORMAT Each technical evaluation report presents a concise summary of the nomination, a comparison with other similar sites, a review of management and integrity issues and concludes with the assessment of the applicability of the criteria, and a clear recommendation to the World Heritage Committee. i Standardised data sheets, prepared for each nomination by UNEP - World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), are available in a separate document. 3. SITES REVIEWED 28 site files were reviewed by IUCN in the 2003/2004 period, involving 17 field inspections. These comprised: •= 17 natural site nominations (including 3 extensions and 1 deferred site where additional information had been received), •= 2 mixed site nominations and •= 9 cultural landscapes. Joint missions were carried out with ICOMOS for 1 mixed site nomination. Joint missions were also carried out with ICOMOS to 3 cultural landscapes and the reports for these sites are included in this document. IUCN reviewed an additional 6 cultural landscape nominations and provided comments directly to ICOMOS where relevant to assist them in their evaluation process. A number of general observations can be made from the nominations evaluated in this session: i) A large number of weak and poorly prepared nominations have been received; ii) A large majority of the nominations have very poor comparative analyses. IUCN reminds the Committee and States Parties that all nominations should include a thorough global comparative analysis that justifies the claim for outstanding universal value; iii) The majority of nominated sites evaluated by IUCN came from the European region; and iv) An increasing number of sites could potentially be part of larger serial nominations on a more regional scale, emphasizing the need for regionally harmonized tentative lists. At a recent meeting of the Advisory Bodies and the World Heritage Centre, it was recommended that the World Heritage Centre needs to be stricter when assessing the completeness of nominations submitted. The files reviewed by IUCN in 2003/2004 are as follows: ID Number State Party World Heritage property proposed A. Nominations of natural properties to the World Heritage List A1. New Nominations 1089 Austria Hohe Tauern National Park (core zone) Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol (withdrawn by State Party – no evaluation report presented) 1126 Bahrain Hawar Islands 1128 Costa Rica Corcovado National Park and Isla del Caño Biological Reserve 1129 Czech Republic Rock Cities of the Bohemian Paradise 1149 Denmark Ilulissat Icefjord 1167 Indonesia Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra 1138 Panama Coiba National Park 1151 Portugal Ilhas Selvagens 1161 Saint Lucia Pitons Management Area 1133 Slovakia Primeval Forests of Slovakia A2. Deferred nominations for which additional information has been received 667 Rev Hungary Palaeohabitat of Tarnóc 1060 Rev Kenya Rift Valley Lakes Reserve (information insufficient to report to Committee at this time) 1023 Russian Natural System of "Wrangel Island" Reserve Federation 1007 Rev South Africa Cape Floral Region of South Africa ii ID Number State Party World Heritage property proposed A3. Extension of properties inscribed on the World Heritage