Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with areas of natural beauty including vegetated limestone islands; limestone pinnacles rising above the sea level along with associated karst features such as domes and caves. The spectacular untouched landscape of vegetated islands, salt lakes, limestone pinnacles with steep cliffs rising above the sea.
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) covered with rich vegetation on the sparkling emerald water, Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago appears like a chessboard of precious stones; peaceful, overlapping mountains and rivers; fine, pristine white sand beaches.
The amazing natural beauty of Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago.
With the intersection of mountains, forests and islands, Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago has a high level of diversity in Asia when it possesses 7 adjacent, successively developing tropical and subtropical marine - island ecosystems. These are the 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.
Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago is also the habitat of many rare species of animals and plants. Possessing the largest marine forest in Vietnam with an area of over 17,000 hectares and diverse ecosystems, Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago is home to 4,910 species of terrestrial and marine animals and plants, of which 198 species are on the Red List of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), 51 endemic species.
The area of primary forest of about 1,045.2 hectares on Cat Ba Island is one of the important factors that contribute to the ecological value and biodiversity of the heritage. In particular, the Cat Ba langur (Trachypithecus poliocephalus) is a rare species, on the list of animals at the highest risk of extinction and recorded in the World Red Book. To date, there are about 60-70 individuals distributed only in Cat Ba, there is no other place in the world where this species appears...
Previously, Ha Long Bay was twice recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage in 1994 and 2000 according to criteria (vii) and criteria (viii).
By 2013, the nomination dossier for the Cat Ba Archipelago as a World Natural Heritage according to the criteria of biodiversity and ecosystems (criteria ix and x) was sent to the World Heritage Center. After the assessment process, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) drafted Decision No. WHC-14/38.COM/INF.8B for the World Heritage Committee to adopt at its 38th Session in Qatar in 2014, in which it recommended: "The State Party considers 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 establish a dossier for nomination as a world heritage site of Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago has continued to be promoted.
In September 2016, the Prime Minister agreed to allow Hai Phong City to preside over and coordinate with Quang Ninh province to develop a dossier to expand Ha Long Bay to Cat Ba Archipelago to submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval to UNESCO with the guidance of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism according to the recommendations of international agencies.
At the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Riyadh, the Vietnamese delegation was led by Ms. Le Thi Thu Hien, Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), Standing Member of the National Cultural Heritage Council. Also attending were Ambassador Le Thi Hong Van - Head of the Permanent Delegation of Vietnam to UNESCO in France, representatives of the Secretariat of the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ; representatives of the leaders of Hai Phong city and Quang Ninh province.
Trees and water at Frog Pond on Cat Ba Island.
Some ecosystems in Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago.
Vietnam has worked with specialized agencies and 21 member countries of the World Heritage Committee to provide information, explain, clarify, express views and commitments on the management, protection and promotion of heritage values after being listed as a World Heritage Site. International experts, scientists and member countries of the World Heritage Committee all highly appreciated the heritage values, supported Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago to become a World Natural Heritage, and wished to visit the heritage in the near future...
Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago was recognized by UNESCO at the 45th Session of the World Heritage Committee (September 2023), becoming the first inter-provincial and municipal World Heritage Site in Vietnam, which is a useful lesson in combining management, protection and promotion of the value of World Heritage in particular, historical - cultural relics, and scenic spots in general in Vietnam in the coming years.
Source
![[Photo] National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man visits Vietnamese Heroic Mother Ta Thi Tran](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/7/20/765c0bd057dd44ad83ab89fe0255b783)
Comment (0)