Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago recognized as World Natural Heritage

Updated date: 09/17/2023 05:29:32

DTO - At 5:40 p.m. on September 16 local time (ie 9:39 p.m. on September 16 Vietnam time), in the capital Riyadh, the United Arab Emirates, the 45th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee approved the nomination dossier, recognizing Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago (in Quang Ninh province and Hai Phong city) as a World Natural Heritage.

In the capital Riyadh, the United Arab Emirates, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee officially rattled off the hammer to recognize Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago as a World Natural Heritage.

Ha Long Bay was recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage twice in 1994 and 2000 according to criteria (vii) and (viii). In 2013, the nomination dossier for Cat Ba archipelago as a World Natural Heritage according to the criteria of biodiversity and ecosystem (criteria ix and x) was sent to the World Heritage Center.

After the assessment process, the World Conservation Union drafted Decision No. WHC-14/38.COM/INF.8B for the World Heritage Committee to adopt at its 38th session in Qatar in 2014, recommending: “Member States consider the possibility of proposing an extension to Ha Long Bay, according to criteria (vii) and (viii) and possibly criterion (x), to include the Cat Ba archipelago”. Since then, the implementation of conservation activities and research to prepare a dossier for nomination of Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago as a world heritage site has continued to be promoted.

During the working program at the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee, the delegation of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism together with the Ambassador, Head of the Permanent Delegation of Vietnam to UNESCO in France and two localities worked with UNESCO's specialized agencies to provide information, explain, clarify, express Vietnam's viewpoints and commitments in managing, protecting and promoting the value of the heritage after being listed in the World Heritage List. Thereby, international experts, scientists and member countries of the World Heritage Committee all highly appreciated the value of the heritage, thereby supporting Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago to become a World Natural Heritage, and at the same time wished to visit the heritage in the near future.

Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago is considered a geological museum, containing heritages with outstanding global values.

Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, because it contains areas of natural beauty including limestone islands covered with vegetation and limestone peaks rising above the sea...

With the intersection of mountains, forests and islands, Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago is a typical area with a high level of diversity in Asia when possessing adjacent, successively developing tropical and subtropical marine ecosystems including: primary tropical rainforest ecosystem, cave ecosystem, mangrove ecosystem, tidal flat ecosystem, coral reef ecosystem, soft bottom ecosystem, saltwater lake ecosystem. These ecosystems represent ecological and biological processes that are still evolving and developing, reflected in the diversity of flora and fauna communities.

With 1,133 limestone islands of various shapes and sizes (775 limestone islands in Ha Long Bay and 358 limestone islands in Cat Ba archipelago), Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago is also covered with rich vegetation.

Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago is also home to many rare species of flora and fauna. Possessing the largest marine forest in Vietnam with an area of over 17,000 hectares and diverse ecosystems, it is home to 4,910 species of terrestrial and marine flora and fauna, of which 198 are listed as red and 51 are endemic. The area of approximately 1,045 hectares of primary forest on Cat Ba Island is one of the important factors contributing to the ecological value and biodiversity of the heritage...

According to MAI AN (SGGP)

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