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title: "Management Plan prescriptions for the Gough and Inaccessible Islands World Heritage Site now online"
---

# Management Plan prescriptions for the Gough and Inaccessible Islands World Heritage Site now online

The [Gough and Inaccessible Islands World Heritage Site](http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/740) is made up of two of the four Tristan islands in the South Atlantic, themselves part of the United Kingdom [Overseas Territory of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Helena,_Ascension_and_Tristan_da_Cunha).  Both [Gough](http://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/news/news-archive/60-2013-news-archive/1322-acap-breeding-sites-no-11-gough-island-south-atlantic-hanging-on-against-the-onslaught-of-its-killer-mice) and [Inaccessible](http://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/news/news-archive/60-2013-news-archive/1294-acap-breeding-sites-no-2-inaccessible-island-tristan-da-cunha-group) (and their surrounding waters) are nature reserves and since 2008 [Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance](http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-news-latest-two-new-ramsar-sites-in-23979/main/ramsar/1-26-76%5E23979_4000_0__), reflecting their high conservation values.  The islands support breeding populations of six species of ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels, including [Critically Endangered](http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=30013)Tristan *Diomedea dabbenena* and [Endangered](http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3965) Atlantic Yellow-nosed *Thalassarche chlororhynchos* Albatrosses and the [Vulnerable](http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=30027) Spectacled Petrel *Procellaria conspicillata*, all endemic to the island group.

 ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Petrels/S/Spectacled/spectacled_petrel_inaccessible_island_by_peter_ryan.jpg)

 Spectacled Petrel - endemic to Inaccessible Island

 Photograph by Peter Ryan

 A single management plan for the World Heritage Site available on-line from the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds ([RSPB](http://www.rspb.org.uk/)) - that replaced earlier individual plans for each island - has now been joined by a series of 19 appendices that include a Description and Resource Inventory, Management Policies and Prescription Guidelines, applicable legislation and a Scientific and Historical Bibliography, along with species lists and other documents ([click here](http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/projects/details/227979-tristan-da-cunha-programme)).

 **Reference:**

 RSPB and Tristan da Cunha Government 2010.  *[Gough and Inaccessible Islands World Heritage Site Management Plan April 2010 – March 2015](http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/Gough_Inaccessible_MP_tcm9-273306.pdf).*  32 pp. & [19 Appendices](http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/projects/details/227979-tristan-da-cunha-programme).

 With thanks to Clare Stringer for information.

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 June 2014*