Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park: 20 years of preserving and promoting world heritage values

Twenty years ago, on July 3, 2003, at the 27th session, the World Heritage Committee (UNESCO) approved Vietnam's submission to recognize Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park as a World Heritage Site, with the criteria of outstanding global value in geology and geomorphology.

The recognition of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park as a World Heritage Site is an important milestone, not only recognizing its outstanding global value but also evaluating efforts in preserving the integrity and promoting the values of heritage resources.

Twice honored as a World Natural Heritage

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is located in the districts of Bo Trach and Minh Hoa ( Quang Binh ). Phong Nha-Ke Bang is located in a limestone mountain area of about 201,000 hectares. The core area of the national park is 85,754 hectares and a buffer zone of 195,400 hectares. The characteristics of this national park are limestone formations, 300 caves, underground rivers and rare flora and fauna listed in the Vietnam Red Book and the World Red Book. Having undergone many major changes in stratigraphy and geomorphology, the terrain of this area is extremely complex. Phong Nha-Ke Bang displays impressive evidence of the earth's history, helping researchers understand the geological history and topography of the area. On July 5, 2003, at the 27th session, the World Heritage Committee (UNESCO) recognized Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park of Vietnam as a World Natural Heritage with the criteria of outstanding global value in geology and geomorphology. With the efforts of the Vietnamese government and international support, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was expanded to 123,326 hectares to preserve intact the largest ancient limestone mountain range in Southeast Asia.

In July 2015, at the 39th session in Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany, with the full consensus of the member countries of the World Heritage Committee, Phong Nha-Ke Bang was listed for the second time on the World Heritage List according to two criteria: biodiversity and ecology. International conservationists have had more than 2,000 people come to Phong Nha-Ke Bang to study and all agree that this is a rare natural heritage in the world. Phong Nha-Ke Bang is home to large animals such as elephants, tigers, and gaurs, as well as small animals such as Phong Nha geckos... Being recognized as a World Heritage Site has become an important milestone, not only recognizing its outstanding global value but also evaluating efforts in preserving the intact values of heritage resources. Heritage recognition is the basis for sustainable development of heritage based on the principle of harmony in promoting values while preserving the integrity of resources. Therefore, over the past 20 years, the Park Management Board has taken conservation management as the foundation, scientific research as the core, and promoting heritage values as the driving force.

Sustainable Heritage Conservation

Identifying forest protection as the top priority task, over the past 20 years, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park Management Board has always considered forest management and protection as the top priority task. Applications such as SMART, GIS, Drones, etc. have been applied in forest patrol activities, biodiversity monitoring, monitoring of earthquakes, impacts of natural disasters and humans. Thanks to that, the effectiveness of resource management has been achieved and is constantly improved, the number and frequency of encountering forest animals is increasing, especially primates.

International conservationists have had more than 2,000 people come to Phong Nha-Ke Bang to research and all agree that this is a rare natural heritage in the world.

Research is considered a pillar in conserving resource values. Over the past 20 years, the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park Management Board has proactively cooperated with domestic and foreign organizations to carry out scientific topics and tasks in the fields of environment, geology-geomorphology, ecology, biodiversity, culture-history. Up to now, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park has organized surveys and published a list of 2,953 plant species belonging to 1,007 genera, 198 families, 63 orders, 12 classes, 6 phyla, discovered 5 new plant species for science; surveyed and published a list of 1,394 animal species belonging to 835 genera, 289 families, 68 orders, 12 classes, 4 phyla, discovered 38 new animal species for science and published worldwide; Produced over 91,000 forestry seedlings of 124 species; planted over 11,175 additional forest trees to preserve gene sources and create landscapes.

In particular, the distribution of the 500-year-old Green Stone Cypress population, covering an area of about 4,000 hectares, grows predominantly on limestone mountains at an altitude of over 600m... In addition, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park has received and rescued 1,439 wild animals and 1,575 kg of orchids. Of these, 1,335 have been released into the natural environment; currently, 64 wild animals of various species are being raised and rescued, including 7 Indochinese tigers. Over the past 20 years, survey teams have discovered 425 new caves in 7 areas and systems. Of which, 389 caves have been measured with a total length of 243km. The most prominent is the discovery of Son Doong - the world's largest cave, which is of great significance in cave exploration research in the region, contributing greatly to promoting the image of Vietnam, Quang Binh and Phong Nha-Ke Bang around the world. Environmental protection and natural disaster response work have also been implemented promptly and in the right place, thereby limiting the impact on heritage resources. Not only Phong Nha but all 10 communes in the heritage buffer zone have changed their awareness for the sake of heritage. Mr. Pham Hong Thai, Director of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, said: "More than 99% of people no longer have negative impacts on the heritage forest. It is a transformation that without working together, it is very difficult to achieve the results we have today." Sustainable tourism development Besides the task of managing and preserving heritage values, the work of promoting the value of heritage through tourism and service activities is focused.

With the view that Phong Nha-Ke Bang tourism is the face and heart of Quang Binh tourism, the Park Management Board has gradually diversified tourism products, proactively and synchronously implemented all 3 forms of tourism exploitation including: self-implementation, joint ventures and leasing forest environmental services. Up to now, Phong Nha-Ke Bang has had 15 routes and tourist destinations in operation with many rich and diverse types of tourism such as: Nature exploration, caves, Camping, Trecking, Zipline... In particular, the tourist route "Conquering Son Doong - the world's largest cave" is considered one of the international-class tours... The total number of visitors to Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in the past 20 years has reached more than 9.5 million, of which international visitors reached more than 1.1 million; revenue from fees and charges reached over 1,742 billion VND. Thus, tourism not only contributes to economic development for the region but is also an effective solution to preserve heritage, reduce pressure on resources by creating jobs for people, creating a trend of shifting previous labor from exploiting natural resources to developing tourism and services./.