"A UNESCO monitoring delegation is about to come to assess the overall conservation status of the world heritage site Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago at the invitation of Vietnam. There is no way UNESCO is considering removing Ha Long Bay from the list of World Natural Heritage."
On December 20, Reuters reported that UNESCO will deploy a team of experts to assess possible risks to the conservation of Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, due to concerns about development projects that could threaten the conservation of the World Natural Heritage Ha Long Bay.
Reuters quoted an expert from UNESCO as saying: "If threats are found that endanger the integrity of the heritage and the reason for the heritage to be included in the world heritage list, the committee can request remedial measures to strengthen the protection of this site."
However, this information has been cited by some Facebook pages with the assertion that UNESCO may consider removing Ha Long Bay from the list of World Natural Heritage.
Regarding this, PV discussed with the representative of the Vietnamese expert group, a member of the World Heritage Committee, on the afternoon of December 23.
8 recommendations to protect the world heritage of Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago
The representative of the Vietnamese expert group, a member of the World Heritage Committee, said at the 46th session of the Committee. World Heritage UNESCO last July (in New Delhi, India), more than 130 reports were considered at this session, including a report on heritage conservation. Ha Long Bay and Thang Long Imperial Citadel of Vietnam, along with 24 new records recognized by UNESCO as world heritage sites.
Following the report at this session, UNESCO made eight recommendations on preserving the world heritage site of Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago.
UNESCO affirmed that they had reviewed Vietnam's report for the first four recommendations, the report was approved, Vietnam had ensured the conservation status report and the coordination mechanism between Quang Ninh and Hai Phong.
We also welcome Vietnam's research to assess the carrying capacity of heritage sites, and request Vietnam to complete the research on carrying capacity as soon as possible, to perfect the sustainable development strategy and the comprehensive tourist management system...
Recommendation 5, UNESCO notes on controlling the implementation of projects in heritage protection areas, it is necessary to assess the impact on heritage according to the guidelines of the 1972 UNESCO Convention...
Specifically, construction projects must be assessed for their appropriateness in terms of the project's impact on the outstanding universal value of the heritage according to UNESCO's impact assessment guidelines.
In the 6th recommendation, UNESCO acknowledged and highly appreciated Quang Ninh province in implementing synchronous measures to solve the problem of waste and environmental pollution to maintain air and water quality within acceptable limits. However, care must still be taken to control water pollution.
UNESCO Recommendation 7 requires the submission to the World Heritage Centre of a detailed zoning map of the area. World Natural Heritage Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago, after the world heritage Ha Long Bay was expanded to include Cat Ba archipelago.
Recommendation 8 is to invite a UNESCO feedback monitoring mission to assess the overall status of heritage conservation, especially heritage management and the effectiveness of heritage protection management organizations.
A representative of the Vietnamese expert group, a member of the World Heritage Committee, informed Tuoi Tre that in the report that Vietnam sent to UNESCO on December 1, Vietnam proactively invited UNESCO experts to visit Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago to review how the 8 recommendations were implemented.
Vietnam has no heritage on the list of World Heritage in Danger.
The representative of the Vietnamese expert group, a member of the World Heritage Committee, also affirmed that removing a world heritage from the list of World Heritage must be done according to the correct procedure.
Accordingly, a heritage must be put on the list of World Heritage in danger and then continue to fail to overcome problems in heritage conservation before UNESCO will remove it from the list of World Heritage.
Currently, Vietnam has no heritage on the list of 56 endangered world heritages.
Therefore, according to the representative of the Vietnamese expert group who is a member of the World Heritage Committee, concerns that UNESCO is considering removing Ha Long Bay from the list of World Natural Heritage are incorrect.
According to statistics, there are currently a total of 1,223 world heritages, of which 952 are cultural heritages, 231 are natural heritages, and 40 are mixed heritages.
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