Ha Long Bay is a World Natural Heritage Site recognized by UNESCO twice, and is also a top tourist destination in the country. With the characteristics of a large island sea, coastal areas and surrounding areas are urban areas, large populations, and strongly developing socio-economic activities, the issue of protecting the heritage environment is always a top concern...
Constant worry
The problem of floating waste in the bay can be considered a constant concern. Besides the regular amount of waste from the limestone vegetation of the heritage, the waste mainly comes from human activities.
According to the assessment of the Ha Long Bay Management Board, with the terrain of many rocky islands, the influence of natural conditions, tides, winds, and complex bay flows, waste is brought from the areas adjacent to Ha Long Bay, which are the shore and surrounding areas, where there are many large urban and residential areas of Ha Long City, Cam Pha, Van Don District, Quang Yen Town, Cat Hai District (Hai Phong) into the heritage area, causing difficulties in control, collection, and treatment. In addition, tourism activities, aquaculture (NTTS), and water transport vehicles are also risks of causing waste pollution. Currently, the bay still has a situation of floating waste, concentrated mainly in the coastal areas of the buffer zone and surrounding areas of the heritage area.
Since the beginning of 2023, to ensure the landscape and environment of Ha Long Bay, Quang Ninh has resolutely directed localities to thoroughly handle the situation of illegal aquaculture in coastal and adjacent areas; carry out the conversion of aquaculture materials from foam buoys to other sustainable materials. The province has directed the dismantling and relocation of aquaculture cages that are not in the planned locations; for other cages, foam buoys must be replaced with sustainable, environmentally friendly floating materials.
The process of dismantling, moving cages, and replacing large quantities of foam buoys has caused a sudden increase in the amount of foam buoys and scattered waste, increasing the amount of floating waste in Ha Long Bay. However, this activity only took place for a short time. Up to now, the collection of this waste and foam buoys has been basically completed, contributing to completely solving one of the major risks of pollution in the bay. 94% of the foam buoys at floating structures in the heritage area have also been replaced.
In addition, the quality of the water environment is also of great concern. Through research, it is known that to monitor the water quality of Ha Long Bay area, the province has built and deployed a network of quarterly seawater quality monitoring points at 19 points in the heritage area and 15 points in the buffer zone, 33 points in the surrounding area. The results show that the water quality index in the heritage area is within the allowable limits according to Vietnamese standards, local technical standards of Quang Ninh province. The water quality in coastal areas is similar, however, some areas have local environmental pollution, such as the appearance of oil slicks in some areas where watercraft are anchored concentratedly...
Synchronous and effective solution
To address the above issues, recently, Quang Ninh has issued many documents, plans, and resolutions on environmental protection, and at the same time directed functional sectors to focus on collecting and minimizing waste generation, and controlling the environmental quality of Ha Long Bay.
In order to prevent waste from the source, the province has relocated polluting facilities out of the buffer zone and implemented solutions to improve the environment; stopped granting operating licenses to factories that pose a risk to the environment of Ha Long Bay, and stopped the operation of the Nam Cau Trang coal factory and port in the heritage buffer zone.
Implementing the roadmap to close open-pit coal mines, up to now, the Nui Beo mine, the largest open-pit mine in Ha Long City, has been closed. It is expected that by 2028, open-pit coal mining in the Ha Long area will be stopped; trees will be planted to restore the environment, and the waste dump will be greened. By 2030, it is expected that the cement factories in the vicinity of Ha Long Bay will be stopped.
Implementing wastewater control of coastal industrial zones, up to now, 100% of these industrial zones have wastewater treatment systems that meet standards and automatic monitoring systems. The coal industry has completed and put into operation 45 mine wastewater treatment stations, ensuring sufficient capacity to treat mine wastewater generated during coal production and processing; a plan for reuse of mine wastewater has been developed. Waste in urban areas and concentrated residential areas along the coast is collected, with a focus on collecting in coastal areas and drainage sewers. 629 trash bins have been installed on main streets in coastal urban areas, the rate of waste collection and treatment in coastal urban areas has reached 99%.
The province is also accelerating the construction of domestic wastewater treatment facilities in coastal localities. Currently, Ha Long City is implementing the project "Drainage and wastewater treatment of Ha Long City" to improve and upgrade the city's drainage and wastewater treatment system. In particular, 3 more wastewater treatment plants will be built with a total capacity of 37,800m3/day and night, to treat all domestic wastewater in Ha Long City in coastal areas to meet standards before being discharged into the environment. All newly built urban areas and residential areas are invested in wastewater treatment systems that ensure standards before being put into operation.
Garbage and waste collection in the bay is carried out at all tourist attractions, services, sightseeing routes, aquaculture sites, tidal flats, island foot areas, and sandbanks, including 9 floating garbage collection ships, 2 island foot garbage collection ships, 2 garbage transport ships to shore with a total of 38 employees. Install 117 trash bins at tourist attractions, 19 floating trash bins on Ha Long Bay to collect and classify garbage. At tourist attractions on the bay, each location is assigned 1-2 people to do environmental sanitation work. The total amount of garbage collected in the bay in 2022 is 188.7 tons, all waste in the bay is transported to shore for treatment on the same day. Implement an investment project to upgrade the wastewater treatment system at tourist attractions on the bay, in order to treat wastewater to meet environmental standards before discharging into Ha Long Bay, mobilizing the support of international organizations in this technology.
To limit the impact of water vehicles on the water environment of Ha Long Bay, the province has relocated fishing ports and boat anchorages from the heritage buffer zone to Cua Luc Bay outside the buffer zone. Fishing is not allowed in the absolute heritage protection area, in order to limit waste discharge and protect the natural ecosystem.
100% of cruise ships operating in Ha Long Bay have systems to treat wastewater and oil. New cruise ships operating in Ha Long Bay must install a domestic wastewater treatment system that meets four Vietnamese national standards. Waste on cruise ships is also collected, transported to ports and wharves and treated according to regulations. Attach the Green Sail eco-label to cruise ships to encourage cruise ships to comply with sustainable development criteria and environmental protection.
The program "Ha Long Bay without plastic waste" has been widely deployed to tourists, cruise ship owners, and service business owners at cruise ports and on Ha Long Bay. To date, the amount of disposable plastic waste that must be collected at tourist attractions on the bay has been reduced by 90%.
Environmental protection propaganda is carried out in many diverse and rich forms. Along with that, inspection, examination and strict supervision of waste discharge from socio-economic activities on and along the shore of Ha Long Bay, timely detection, prevention and timely handling of violations...
With many efforts and significant resources devoted to the management and conservation of Ha Long Bay, especially environmental protection, it can be seen that up to now, the outstanding global values of Ha Long Bay Heritage listed by UNESCO have been managed and preserved intact, and the environmental quality of the heritage site is assessed to still be within the allowable limits...
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