As last year it seems worthwhile opening a new "topic" for WHC events as they occur!

The early transmissions using the "Livestream" service have had a few problems - first the English translations were not working and there was poor volume but these seem to have been sorted as of "now".

"Livestream" provides a "chat" facility this year but I have already discovered that these seem to be removed after a while so if anyone wants to make a comment which "remains" for further discussion and "record" it would be better to continue to use this Forum!

Agenda Item - Reports of Advisory Bodies

It is "Kick ICOMOS" time!!
Iraq raises why isn't ICOMOS more "transparent"? Who are the experts?
An interesting answer from the ICOMOS guy which might be worth considering later-
He says that ICOMOS can't be totally transparent because some people might not give a true response on matters such as OUV if their names were to become known!!

Indonesia is concerned that the interpetation of "OUV" works against economic development - ICOMOS answers that the Convention ONLY allows ICOMOS to measure OUV against the situation as at the time of inscription.

Nothing really gets developed/resolved

IUCN asks that the WHC should only meet every 2 years as per many other such bodies. Its workload is too great and time is too short to properly evaluate and discuss.

Algeria returns to subject of ABs working more closely with State Parties (SPs) - wants the SP to have a chance to see recommendations before publication. Once they are published it is very difficult for changes to be made.

Interesting point from Mongolia -need for better integration between tangible and intangible heritage. As a nomadic people Mongolians link the 2 together very closely - interaction of natural and cultural. ICCROM says it tries to - points out the a large %qe of CLs are also naturally protected areas . But has to point out that the final evaluation has to be ICOMOS as CLs are "Cultural" not "Natural". No answer from ICOMOS or IUCN

Agenda Item - "The World Heritage Convention - Thinking Ahead"

"Objective - to reduce the occurrence of divergence between the recommendations of ABs and the decisions of the WHC"

Development of "Upstream processes" to assist this is generally regarded as going well - pilots have been extended in both Africa and Caribbean (we have recently discussed the African workshops to develop Nominations on this Forum)

Agenda Item -"World Heritage Convention and Sustainable Development" (SD)
WIP - a series of "Key dimensions" against which SD is to be measured/achieved has been developed in draft
Jamaica - A "key dimension" proposed has been involvement of "Indigenous peoples" but no mention of non indigenous "local communities"!! ICOMOS - they are assumed to be generally covered but extra mention will be made,

I see that Livestream archives the complete videos of the sessions - so if there is a particular agenda item you want to catch up on then it is there - if you can find it!!

The French version has more "archive" than the English forthis morning as they seemed to have problems with the English at the start!!
http://new.livestream.com/accounts/2255445/events/3100338/archives

Here is the incomplete English archive
http://new.livestream.com/accounts/2255445/events/3100333/archives

Just had a look at the livestream: 88 people watching live...

And are they already ahead of the agenda? They just started with item 7, the State of Conservation of various WHS. Additions and Deletions to/from the Danger list will follow.

The Chair "person" did say they were ahead of schedule on Item 5 etc in the morning.

As I implied there wasn't a lot of discussion - the Item lead made his/her presentation, a few countries made some desultory comments. Next a draft decision was tabled with perhaps 1 of the comments included and everything was agreed pdq. No heated arguments , nothing which really got to the heart of the issue - just a lot of bonhomie and diplomatic nicety!!

Perhaps things will heat up later! Either that or they have all been told that the "objective" is to agree everything.

I haven't been looking this afternoon after i discovered that the sessions were on archive

Catching up this morning. First thing noteworthy is the removal from the Danger List of Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani.

Sad words for Manovo-Gounda St. Floris: is there any OUV left? Nobody knows, difficult to get in. Reactive (or reinforced?) monitoring mission to be sent, possible delisting in the future

From what I listened to over the 2 days, there are certain committee members that participate far more actively than others. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Involved in many or most discussions: Algeria, Colombia, Finland, Germany, Jamaica, Japan, Portugal, Qatar, Senegal, Turkey

Occasionally participates: Croatia, India, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, , Peru, Philippines, Poland, Serbia, Republic of Korea

Yet to speak: Viet Nam

Croatia kicks a little more, in this case on Dubrovnik. Developments are outside of the core and buffer zones, and ICOMOS shouldn't listen to anyone who sends a concerned letter. Also a bit mad about the use of the word "under threat", as they've just recovered from the situation in the 1990s that the city really was under threat.

Well, UK avoided having the 2 sites of Cornwall/S Devon and Westminster added to the "Danger List"!

As part of this, the combined might and talents of the WHC wrestled with the planned construction of a supermarket at Hayle for some 30 minutes. The UK characterised this as a "miniscule" matter and it is difficult to take the amount of time and effort spent on it seriously given all the other destruction of WHS ongoing around the World. What on earth is ICOMOS and the WHC doing frittering away its time and resources on such a matter!!

I show below a link to what the harbour of Hayle looks like at the moment. It is difficult to conceive of how the development of this area with a supermarket could actually look WORSE than this tatty agglomeration of buildings!!

http://www.cornishman.co.uk/United-Nations-halt-Hayle-supermarket/story-19341745-deta il/story.html

My thoughts exactly. I was there a couple of weeks ago and it was an exceptionally grim vista, we were planning on stopping but decided to just drive past.

I'm glad Westminster hasn't been added to the list in danger, I still stand by what I said when it first came up:

Potosí declared In Danger

Looking at the document 7B State of Conservation. As of this morning there are about 55 State of Conservation Reports to process and discuss, before we arrive to the more interesting part of the convention.

I am particularly curious about these two, which should be analyzed today.

Great Barrier Reef (Australia)

Ha Long Bay (Viet Nam)

Have you picked up on the campaign "Fight for the Reef" whose "Social Media Storm" is going to be live streamed into the WHC -

http://tcktcktck.org/2014/06/join-the-great-barrier-reef-social-media-storm/62255

All the press assessment is that the decision will be postponed for another 12 months -we must presume that the Australian government has done its networking with WHC members beforehand!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-18/unesco-due-to-decide-on-barrier-reef/5531542