Keep Victoria Falls Wild, 24th July 2024
Following submission of proposed amendments to the World Heritage Committee's Draft Decision tect relating to the Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls World Heritage Site, published on the UNESCO website yesterday morning (Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs, 24th July 2026), further amendments were published this morning, only a matter of hours before the Committee were due to discuss the Site.
Download the revised amendment proposal here (direct odf download from UNESCO website).
In the event the Committee ran over in its morning session, with five sites under Agenda Item 7B, including the Falls (last on the list), held over until the end of the afternoon session, only one of which was eventually discussed. Four Sites are therefore held over on the agenda (we are awaiting confirmation of revised timetable).
The two revised documents relating to the Site were published shortly after one another on the UNESCO website this morning, the second replacing the first. Comparison of these documents against the original draft text and the initially proposed amended text published yesterday reveal further minor amendments to points 4, 6, and 9 (amendments under points 8 and 10 are unchanged).
[suggested deleted text in
red, additional text in blue]
4. Expresses serious concern that possible cumulative
impacts from large-scale infrastructure
and ever-increasing tourism
developments within the property, its buffer zone, and (wider setting (where applicable) continue to pose a significant threat to the
Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, a situation exacerbated,
among other things, by the fact that the States Parties continue to receive several proposed development project proposalss, which
the States Parties have indicated to be at the scoping stage, are currently
underway will
continue receiving, and
invites the States Parties to continue
to provideinge further details
on any ongoing or/ future the reported development
projects that are/ will be under consideration as soon as more information is available; ...
6. Notes with regret, that at the time of producing this draft decision no update was provided regarding the letter (Ref: CLT/WHC/AFR/24/151) on the third-party concerns related relating to
permits for two commercial tourism developments in highly sensitive zones on
the Zimbabwean component of the property. Noting that information available online indicates that these
developments have already commenced operation, expresses its deep concern about the potentially irreversible impacts of
these projects on the integrity and the visual attributes of the property and
urgently requests the States Parties to provide updates on the abovementioned letter and report on the monitoring and mitigation measures in
place to ensure that the infrastructures do not negatively affect the OUV of
the property; ...
9. The
Committee notes the updates on Expresses
continued concern regarding the likely negative impact of the proposed Batoka Gorge Hydro Electric Scheme (BGHES) on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, and further reiterates its request that the revised ESIA must be in full conformity line with the above-mentioned guidance, including a rigorous
assessment of alternative scenarios that minimize avoid mitigate negative
impacts on the OUV, as recommended by the 2022 Reactive monitoring mission, and
be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review, prior to taking any
decision that is difficult to reverse; The World Heritage Centre also attended a side event organized by
States Parties on sustainable management .measures and
acknowledged their efforts during its
participation at the 47th Session. It was noted, however, that these measures are not currently reflected
in the Draft Decision.
Point 12, with further details relating to tourism developments deleted, is now suggested to be merged under point 11:
11. Reiterates furthermore its request to the States Parties to submit a request for a boundary modification in accordance with the Operational Guidelines to set the precise boundaries of the property and its buffer zone, aligned with past Committee Decisions and the property’s Statement of OUV, and encourages the States Parties to seek further technical guidance from the World Heritage Centre and IUCN as required;
Also requests that information on the current status of
all proposed development projects, reported by the States Parties at the scoping stage, including their precise location, and
scale, be submitted to the World Heritage Centre as soon as such information
becomes available, with particular attention to commercial tourism developments, notably the Cataract Island tours, ;Baines Restaurant, and Six senses
eco-lodges, located in highly sensitive areas, notably Cataract
Island and its riverine rainforest within the Zimbabwean component of the property;
And rewording of the proposed text under point 13 (now 12):
12. Recommends both States Parties to invite Advisory Bodies and WHC to the site for an on the ground boundary verification and for guidance on outstanding matters.
We believe the Committee should reject all these attempts to manipulate the amendment process in order to dilute the draft decision text relating to this Site, with the exception of approving the proposed text relating to the requested advisory mission to the Site.
See also:
Victoria Falls Bits and
Blogs (23rd July 2026) World
Heritage Committee members attempt to dilute draft Decision text regarding
Victoria Falls.
Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (18th
July 2026) Riverside
Developments at Victoria Falls Threaten World Heritage Site
Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (15th
July 2026) World
Heritage Committee Turns Its Attentions to Victoria Falls.
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