Xuan Thuy National Park: Towards the goal of becoming an ASEAN Heritage Park (Part II)

Along with the attention and efforts to mobilize investment resources, strengthen the management and protection of Xuan Thuy Wetland Reserve, the Provincial People's Committee is focusing on directing departments, branches, localities and the Xuan Thuy National Park Management Board to speed up the completion of the dossier to be recognized as an ASEAN Heritage Park, thereby promoting the value of the National Park in preserving biodiversity and developing sustainable socio -economy.

A corner of Xuan Thuy National Park.

Part II: Journey to become an ASEAN Heritage Garden

In an effort to preserve and sustainably develop Xuan Thuy National Park, over the past time, the Provincial People's Committee has directed the Department of Agriculture and Environment, Giao Thuy District, and Xuan Thuy National Park Management Board to implement many measures to protect the environment and biodiversity in Xuan Thuy National Park, including restoring mangrove forests, controlling the environment, and developing economic models associated with nature conservation.

Xuan Thuy National Park was established under Decision No. 01/2003/QD-TTg dated January 2, 2003 of the Prime Minister on the basis of transfer from Xuan Thuy Wetland Reserve. Xuan Thuy National Park was established with the aim of preserving intact the typical standard model of the wetland ecosystem in the coastal estuary area, protecting wild animals, especially aquatic species, endangered, precious and rare birds in the area. To complete the set goals, in recent years, the Provincial People's Committee has focused on investing in building technical facilities, serving training, scientific research and environmental education, developing ecotourism, contributing to socio-economic development, creating jobs for local communities. Regularly approve the implementation of scientific and technological tasks to conserve animal genetic resources, test and select and test planting of some promising mangrove species to improve the resilience of mangrove ecosystems with mangrove species that have advantages in biomass, ecology and better adaptability to climate change, high tides with strong intensity... Typical topics and projects: "Investment in developing the core zone of Xuan Thuy National Park"; "Research and identification of some suitable crops and techniques for cultivating good quality seedlings in Xuan Thuy National Park, Nam Dinh province", "Research on the current status, causes of mangrove degradation and building a model for sustainable mangrove restoration in Xuan Thuy National Park, Nam Dinh province"... Activities of monitoring and supervising biodiversity and ecosystems are maintained regularly and effectively. Effectively grasp local socio-economic information, political security situation, social order and safety in the region to assess and forecast trends affecting natural resources; the task of monitoring hydrometeorological data is focused on and regularly implemented in accordance with the provisions of law.

Staff of Xuan Thuy National Park Management Board introduced the park's ecosystem to students of the University of Natural Sciences - Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

Implementing the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the People's Committee of Giao Thuy district, the Xuan Thuy National Park Management Board has proactively proposed and called for programs to support community livelihood development such as the Program of the National Agricultural Extension Center on developing extensive shrimp farming, beekeeping for honey in the buffer zone; the program to promote ecotourism models in localities... Through the programs, ecotourism activities have initially been formed in the Xuan Thuy National Park area. On average, about 15,000 visitors come to visit and experience the area each year. The Xuan Thuy National Park Management Board has issued regulations on managing ecotourism activities in the area. The programs contribute to promoting household economy, reducing people's dependence on natural resources. In addition, environmental protection education is regularly coordinated and organized in Xuan Thuy National Park. Propaganda conferences are deployed to each cultural house in the buffer zone communes, attracting many people to participate and respond. Dissemination of information about the role of biodiversity and the value of wetland resources is conveyed through mass media, publications, and leaflets to visitors, contributing to environmental conservation and reducing pressure on the ecosystem of Xuan Thuy National Park...

Determined to achieve the goal of turning Xuan Thuy National Park into an ASEAN Heritage Park, the Provincial People's Committee directed the Xuan Thuy National Park Management Board to proactively coordinate with relevant units to develop a dossier to ensure compliance with procedures and instructions of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment. Implementing the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Agriculture and Environment coordinated with relevant units to guide the Xuan Thuy National Park Management Board to develop and complete the nomination dossier in accordance with regulations. With the active participation of ministries, branches and the province, by August 22, 2024, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment had submitted Document No. 79/TTr-BTNTM to the Prime Minister on nominating Xuan Thuy National Park, Nam Dinh province as an ASEAN Heritage Park. On September 25, 2024, the Government Office issued Document No. 6849/VPCP-NN requesting the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture and Rural Development, Culture, Sports and Tourism to study and give written comments on the dossier. Based on the comments of the ministries, on October 28, 2024, the Provincial People's Committee issued Document No. 1095/UBND-VP3 to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for consideration and reporting to the Prime Minister for approval of the policy of nominating Xuan Thuy National Park as an ASEAN Heritage Park. On January 22, 2025, the Government Office issued Document No. 590/VPCP-NN to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the People's Committee of Nam Dinh province regarding Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha's agreement to approve the policy of nominating Xuan Thuy National Park as an ASEAN Heritage Park. The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) to preside over and coordinate with the People's Committee of Nam Dinh province, relevant ministries and agencies to carry out the next procedures in the process of proposing to recognize Xuan Thuy National Park as an ASEAN Heritage Park and complete it before June 30, 2025.

Implementing the Government's direction, recently the Central working delegation led by Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tri, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment, had a working session with the Provincial People's Committee on the implementation of biodiversity conservation tasks and the process of completing the nomination dossier for Xuan Thuy National Park to become an ASEAN Heritage Park. To ensure completion on schedule, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tri, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment, requested Nam Dinh province to focus on directing relevant departments, branches, Giao Thuy district, Xuan Thuy National Park Management Board to focus on building a detailed report on Xuan Thuy National Park in the direction of clearly defining the criteria, levels, and ability to achieve each criterion. In particular, it is necessary to pay special attention to and highlight the typical values, outstanding features, and differences of Xuan Thuy National Park. Carefully prepare documents, supporting documents with images, and presentation materials; clearly define the route and field location to serve the inspection and appraisal team of ASEAN in the coming time... Director of Xuan Thuy National Park Management Board Doan Cao Cuong said: Closely following the direction of the Government, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the Provincial People's Committee, Xuan Thuy National Park Management Board is actively supplementing and completing the nomination dossier of Xuan Thuy National Park as an ASEAN Heritage Park to ensure that it meets the 12 criteria for ASEAN Heritage Parks of the ASEAN Biodiversity Center. Strengthen management to ensure the integrity of the typical ecosystem of the coastal estuarine wetland area of ​​Northern Vietnam; manage, conserve and have clear boundaries and areas on the map and are marked in the field. Ecosystems are not encroached upon, not affected by changes in natural structure, biodiversity loss, conservation values...

Xuan Thuy National Park was soon recognized by ASEAN as an ASEAN Heritage Park, a recognition of the efforts of the Party committees, authorities and people of Nam Dinh in implementing the Government's commitments to international conventions on environmental protection and biodiversity that Vietnam has participated in. Xuan Thuy National Park's recognition as an ASEAN Heritage Park is an important step forward in Vietnam's nature conservation and sustainable development. This not only enhances the value of Xuan Thuy National Park but also contributes to the common efforts of the Southeast Asian region in environmental protection and biodiversity; affirms the importance of the ASEAN region in conservation work and opens up opportunities for ecotourism development and international cooperation. That is also the goal that the initiative of the ASEAN Environment Ministers aims for and implements based on the Declaration on ASEAN Heritage Parks since 2003.

Article: Van Dai
Photo: Viet Du

Part I: Outstanding ecological values

Source: https://baonamdinh.vn/xa-hoi/202505/vuon-quoc-gia-xuan-thuy-huong-toi-muc-tieu-tro-thanh-vuon-di-san-asean-ky-ii-a497455/