UNESCO experts conduct field surveys in Ha Long Bay to strengthen heritage protection measures

(Fatherland) - News from the Department of Heritage, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that UNESCO will deploy a group of experts to conduct a field survey in Ha Long Bay to further strengthen protection measures for this site.

Accordingly, on December 20, 2024, Reuters reported that UNESCO will deploy a team of experts to conduct a field survey in Ha Long Bay to further strengthen protection measures for this site. This is one of the contents that the Vietnamese delegation attending the 46th Session of the World Heritage Committee from July 21 to 31, 2024 discussed and agreed with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).

The annual meeting of the World Heritage Committee and the 46th Session focused on discussing a number of main contents such as: Periodic assessment of the protection of World Heritage sites - part of the monitoring process (including Ha Long Bay), assessed based on the conservation status reports of World Heritage sites sent by Member States to UNESCO before each Annual Session of the World Heritage Committee; Review of new World Heritage nomination dossiers; Global Strategy for the World Heritage List; Assessment of Periodic Reports and a number of other contents on the Strategy for building human resources for world heritage, on the list of proposed world heritage dossiers, adjustment of world heritage protection zones of a number of countries, list of endangered world heritage sites, finance and preparation for the next Session.

UNESCO experts will conduct field surveys in Ha Long Bay (illustrative photo)

Regarding specific content, at the 46th Session in 2024, the World Heritage Committee examined reports on the state of conservation of 123 World Heritage sites, including 56 World Heritage sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger (Vietnam has never had any world heritage sites included in this List up to now).

Regarding the nomination dossier for new world heritage: The 46th session of the World Heritage Committee recognized 24 new world heritages, accordingly, to date there are 1,223 world heritages worldwide (including 952 world cultural heritages, 231 world natural heritages, 40 mixed world heritages).

At the same time, the World Heritage Committee decided to remove one heritage site, Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal), from the List of World Heritage in Danger and add one heritage site, Saint Hilarion/Tell Umm Amer Monastery (Palestine), to the List of World Heritage in Danger, due to threats to this heritage from the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip. Thus, up to now, there are still 56 World Heritage sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Regarding Ha Long Bay, since the 45th Session of the World Heritage Committee in 2023, recommendations have been made on the conservation and promotion of the value of this heritage. Through monitoring heritage conservation activities and Vietnam's report, the 46th Session of the World Heritage Committee has made 08 recommendations on the conservation of the World Heritage Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago, specifically: For the first 04 recommendations, UNESCO affirmed that it had reviewed and approved Vietnam's report on Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago, including the report on the conservation status and the establishment of an effective coordination mechanism between Quang Ninh province and Hai Phong city to ensure comprehensive management of the heritage.

In the fifth recommendation, UNESCO noted that the control of project implementation in heritage protection areas requires heritage impact assessment according to the guidelines of the 1972 UNESCO Convention... Specifically, construction projects must be assessed on the suitability of the project's impact on the outstanding universal value of the heritage according to UNESCO's guidelines for assessing world heritage impacts.

Recommendation 6: UNESCO recognizes and appreciates Quang Ninh province in implementing synchronous measures to solve the problem of waste and environmental pollution to maintain air and water quality within permissible limits. However, attention should still be paid to controlling water pollution.

Recommendation 7: UNESCO requests submission to the World Heritage Centre of a detailed zoning map of the Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago World Heritage Site, after the Ha Long Bay World Heritage Site is 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.

During the 46th Session of the World Heritage Committee, Director of the World Heritage Centre Lazare Eloundou Assomo considered Vietnam as a model of cooperation with UNESCO and UNESCO's Advisory Bodies and a typical case of world heritage conservation. He highly appreciated Vietnam's continued research on the unique cultural values ​​of Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago to build a dossier, supplement cultural criteria for Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago, as well as continuing to accompany and support Vietnam in this research content. Accordingly, UNESCO pledged to continue supporting Vietnam in building and promoting heritage dossiers that Vietnam proposed in the coming time.

Thus, it can be said that in the coming time, when the UNESCO Expert Team comes to conduct a field survey in Ha Long Bay as reported by Reuters, we need to closely follow the recommendations of the Field Inspection Team to explain and absorb the advice and comments of the UNESCO Expert Team in the work of protecting Ha Long Bay, as well as Vietnam's wishes in continuing to research and supplement cultural values ​​(especially the potential cultural and historical values ​​of Ha Long Bay with the archaeological cultures of Soi Nhu - Cai Beo - Ha Long), moving towards preparing a dossier to nominate Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago as a World Heritage Site with additional cultural criteria according to the regulations in the Guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention./.

Source: https://toquoc.vn/chuyen-gia-unesco-khao-sat-thuc-dia-tai-vinh-ha-long-nham-tang-cuong-cac-bien-phap-bao-ve-di-san-20241224111801531.htm