Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe

• Lack of integrated Management Plan (in progress)
• Lack of transnational research and monitoring plans (in progress)
• Need for capacity building (in progress)
• Inadequate regulation and management of uses and activities (logging and hunting) in the Slovak part of the property

A joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission visited the Slovak components of the property in October 2014. The States Parties of Slovakia and Ukraine submitted state of conservation reports. All these reports are available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1133/documents.  

The State Party of Slovakia reports the following:

• A “Joint Declaration of Intent between the relevant Ministries of Germany, Slovak Republic and Ukraine concerning the Cooperation on the Protection and Management of the property” was signed in May 2014 and the next session of the Joint Management Committee is planned for October 2015.
• An amendment of the Law on Nature Protection is in force since 1 January 2014.
• In 2014, a draft non-legislative Action Plan was prepared for the Poloniny National Park, which will be in use until the official Management Programme of the Poloniny National Park is developed and approved in 2016. There is an intention to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN advisory mission in 2015 to provide advice, inter alia, on the Management Programme plan for the Slovak components of the property. Within the process of the current on-going preparation of a proposal for extension of the property to other countries, the State Party of Slovakia is planning to explore options of reconfiguring its components and their buffer zones to ensure better management of the property. Addition of further components in Slovakia is also envisaged.
• The Ministry of Environment established the Slovak Joint Management Committee to deal with issues pertinent to the European Diploma of Protected Areas and the World Heritage property.
• An agreement was signed between the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The two Ministries are also jointly preparing alternative forest management solutions to ensure protection of the property’s OUV.
• No development projects requiring an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) are planned in the region.
• A Slovak – Norway project “Nature Protection as an opportunity for Regional Development, 2015 – 2017” (total amount 999.643 €).
• On 4 May 2015: training of local stakeholders on existing opportunities to support nature-friendly management of agriculture and forest land and rural development from EU Structural Funds.

The 2014 mission concluded that whilst the values of the Slovak components of the property had been relatively well preserved, an integrated management system that could address existing threats was still lacking. It also concluded that the current boundary design of the Slovak components does not adequately reflect its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV).  

The report submitted by the State Party of Ukraine provides additional information on the preparation of the extension of the property to other countries and on the activities that have been undertaken by the States Parties involved.

On 23 March 2015 the State Party of Germany submitted information on a planned tourism infrastructure project aimed at improving visitors’ safety at the King’s Throne cliffs in the Jasmund National Park component of the property.

The on-going cooperation between the States Parties of Germany, Slovakia and Ukraine and the signing of the Joint Declaration of Intent is worth commending, and it is recommended that the Committee encourage the States Parties to continue their cooperation.

Some progress has been achieved by the State Party of Slovakia in enhancing cooperation between the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the latter being responsible for forest lands within the boundaries of Poloniny National Park and Vihorlat Protected Landscape Area. The Cooperation and Collaboration Framework Agreement signed between the two Ministries includes a number of tasks to be jointly accomplished, including cooperation in the preparation and implementation of a management plan for the property. Unsustainable forest management practices within the Slovak components of the property have been one of the major concerns previously expressed by the Committee. Therefore, this represents a positive step towards finding a solution that would ensure protection of its OUV; particularly since the reactive monitoring mission noted that logging continued to pose threats to the OUV and integrity of the property and that, although no logging was taking place within the property, forest management plans applicable to some areas overlapping with the property provided for logging within its boundaries.

Despite a few positive steps, the absence of an integrated management framework for the Slovak part of the property and of management plans for its individual components raises concerns. Although a draft Action Plan has been prepared for the Poloniny National Park, it is a non-legislative instrument and a Management Programme for this component is yet to be prepared. It is recommended that the Committee request the State Party of Slovakia to ensure that no logging operations are permitted within the Slovak components of the property until an integrated management framework for these components has been developed, in consultation with the States Parties of Germany and Ukraine, that would provide an adequate level of protection for the OUV of the property and also take into account other international designations, such as Biosphere Reserve and European Diploma.

The reactive monitoring mission further noted that the current boundary design of the Slovak components does not provide adequate protection of the property’s OUV. It is therefore recommended that the Committee encourage the State Party of Slovakia to develop a proposal for boundary modification of its components, taking into account the advice that will be provided by the joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN Advisory mission the State Party of Slovakia has expressed its intent to invite in 2015. It is also noted that the State Party of Slovakia intends to propose further components for inclusion in the property within the framework of the extension currently being elaborated of the existing trilateral site to other countries. It is therefore recommended that the reconfiguration of the existing Slovak components of the property be undertaken within that process to ensure consistency with the overall design of the transnational serial extension.

The reactive monitoring mission underlined the importance of involving local stakeholders in Slovakia into the process of the preparation of any key plans and management instruments which could help improve the recognition of the World Heritage values of the property among local communities. 

IUCN has also reviewed the information provided by the State Party of Germany on the planned tourism infrastructure development in the Jasmund National Park and considers that this development would not pose a threat to the property’s OUV.