Protecting the natural wonders of the world: Everyone's responsibility

As one of the natural wonders of the world , Ha Long Bay is always a top tourist destination on the tourist map of Vietnam in particular and the world in general. However, this also poses many challenges for local authorities and management agencies in the process of managing, preserving and exploiting this heritage.

Ha Long Bay. Photo: VNA

Natural wonders of the world

Ha Long Bay is a small bay on the western coast of the Gulf of Tonkin, in the northeastern sea area of ​​Vietnam, including the island sea area of ​​Ha Long city in Quang Ninh province.

Ha Long Bay is a unique heritage because this place contains important traces in the process of formation and development of the earth's history, is the cradle of ancient Vietnamese people, and is also a great work of art created by nature with the presence of thousands of rocky islands of various shapes, with many interesting caves clustered into a world that is both vivid and mysterious.

Besides, Ha Long Bay is also a place of high biodiversity with typical ecosystems and thousands of extremely rich and diverse species of flora and fauna.

Ha Long Bay was recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a World Natural Heritage for its natural landscape value in 1994 and for its geological and geomorphological value in 2000. Ha Long Bay was then ranked as a special national monument by the Prime Minister in 2009 and recognized by the New7Wonders organization as one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world in 2011.

In September 2023, Ha Long Bay continued to be approved by the World Heritage Committee to expand the boundary of the Ha Long Bay World Heritage Site to combine with Cat Ba Archipelago to become Ha Long Bay-Cat Ba Archipelago in the World Heritage List. This is the first inter-provincial world heritage site in Vietnam.

According to the Ha Long Bay Management Board, expanding the boundary of the Ha Long Bay World Heritage Site to include Cat Ba Archipelago helps to add values ​​and further affirm the integrity of the UNESCO-recognized Ha Long Bay heritage, while also helping to strengthen solutions to manage the unique marine ecosystem of Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Archipelago.

Need everyone's cooperation

Possessing outstanding global and national values, along with many domestic and international titles, Ha Long Bay Heritage is always the top attractive tourist destination on the tourism map of Vietnam in particular, the region and the world in general.

Tourists swimming in Ha Long Bay. Photo: Thanh Tung/VNS

However, Ha Long Bay is a unique marine heritage with thousands of rocky islands, a large area, and a complex oceanographic regime. In addition, the coastal area of ​​the bay is adjacent to many localities with strong urban development. Many complex socio-economic activities are taking place in the bay, related to many industries and fields such as tourism; aquaculture, fisheries exploitation; traffic, maritime transport, etc. This is creating many multi-dimensional pressures on Ha Long Bay Heritage, especially the issue of environmental protection.

Head of Ha Long Bay Management Board Vu Kien Cuong affirmed that in the process of managing, preserving and sustainably promoting the World Natural Heritage of Ha Long Bay, local authorities and heritage management agencies always identify environmental protection as a central and continuous task. Therefore, to make Ha Long Bay Heritage a green - clean - beautiful destination, attractive to domestic and international tourists, it is necessary to have the cooperation and contribution of all local people, tourists and the international community.

Mr. Vu Kien Cuong also said that being fully aware of the importance of environmental protection in managing, preserving and sustainably promoting the values ​​of Ha Long Bay, the heritage management agency and local authorities always focus on improving the effectiveness of propaganda work to promote the role and responsibility of businesses, communities, each citizen and tourist in environmental protection.

In addition, the Ha Long Bay Management Board has proactively increased the collection and treatment of waste and wastewater in the direction of controlling waste sources well. Waste collection activities on the bay are established with two main areas, in which the first area is organized to collect along the bay shore to prevent waste from urban areas and concentrated residential areas at the source; and the second area is organized in the central areas of the bay, focusing on areas with tourism, service and other socio-economic activities. Each waste collection area is arranged with many vehicles with dozens of personnel continuously implementing waste collection on the water surface to ensure the bay's landscape environment.

On the other hand, Ha Long Bay is also a pioneer in applying science and technology to protect the environment, especially in wastewater treatment. With the support of experts and technology from Japan, the wastewater treatment system at tourist attractions is gradually being upgraded using Jokaso technology (wastewater treatment at the source using Japanese biological technology). The water quality of Ha Long Bay is monitored and observed periodically every quarter and is determined to be within the allowable limits according to Vietnamese Standards. Wastewater from tourist boats, tourist attractions on the bay, and residential areas along the shore of Ha Long Bay is gradually being treated.

Since 2019, the movement "Ha Long Bay without plastic waste" has been launched and effectively implemented by the Bay Management Board and received active participation from businesses, tourists and the entire community in implementing the campaign to not use disposable plastic products in sightseeing and tourism activities on the bay.

In addition, the replacement of styrofoam buoys in floating structures on the bay with sustainable materials has been promoted. In the core heritage area alone, tens of thousands of styrofoam buoys in floating structures have been replaced with sustainable materials, reaching over 94%. This is a remarkable achievement of the heritage management agency in recent times./.

My Ha