Hanoi (VNA) - The Reactive Monitoring Team from the World Heritage Centre and IUCN recently concluded a working visit to Vietnam from March 10–16 to assess conservation and management efforts at the Ha Long Bay – Cat Ba Archipelago World Heritage site, which spans Quang Ninh province and Hai Phong city, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Notably, the mission resulted in a series of practical recommendations for managing Vietnam’s first trans-provincial World Heritage site.
Opportunity to enhance outstanding universal value
Despite forming a single natural complex, Ha Long Bay and the Cat Ba Archipelago have long been managed separately by Quang Ninh and Hai Phong. This divide has posed challenges for cruise tourism and visitor services. To bridge this management gap and unlock the full potential of the site’s World Heritage status, experts stressed the urgent need for unified management—a longstanding issue that has persisted for over a decade.
After nearly a week of meetings with relevant agencies and local authorities, Luba Janikova, representative of the World Heritage Centre, acknowledged the difficulties and complexities in coordinating the management of Vietnam’s first inter-provincial World Heritage site. She also noted the broader challenge of balancing conservation and development—an issue that affects World Heritage sites globally.
Echoing her views, Amran Hamzah, representative of IUCN, observed that although coordination between stakeholders has proven difficult, this remains an important opportunity for Vietnam to demonstrate its commitment to the World Heritage Convention and fulfill its international responsibilities. In particular, he emphasized the importance of safeguarding the site’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV).
Hamzah recommended that Vietnam regularly update the World Heritage Centre and UNESCO-affiliated agencies on all development projects—ongoing, planned, or proposed—within the Ha Long Bay – Cat Ba Archipelago World Heritage area. He also stressed the importance of aligning all planning and implementation efforts with UNESCO’s guidance and regulations.
He further urged local authorities to apply key tools such as Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA), Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), and Heritage Impact Assessments (HIA) not only during planning and implementation phases but also after project completion to evaluate the broader effects on the heritage site.
Regarding visitor capacity, the Monitoring Team advised Vietnam to conduct comprehensive carrying capacity assessments for the entire heritage area. These assessments should take into account both tangible and intangible factors influencing tourists’ experiences to ensure appropriate tourism management strategies.
No trade-off between economic growth and heritage protection
In response to the experts' recommendations, officials from Quang Ninh province, Hai Phong city, and the Department of Cultural Heritage reaffirmed their commitment to adhering to the World Heritage Convention. They also pledged to improve Vietnam’s legal framework for heritage protection, especially through the newly passed Law on Cultural Heritage and related regulatory documents currently under development.
The local authorities also confirmed their dedication to environmental protection, including wastewater treatment and waste management.
They highlighted ongoing efforts to implement sustainable tourism development strategies, carry out visitor capacity research, and use such findings as a foundation for decision-making.
Additionally, they are advancing scientific research on the site’s values and ensuring the availability of institutional and financial resources for long-term conservation and promotion.
Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Dao Cuong acknowledged the Monitoring Team’s recommendations as highly valuable contributions to the improvement of heritage management in Vietnam—particularly for UNESCO-listed World Heritage sites like the Ha Long Bay – Cat Ba Archipelago.
He called on Hai Phong and Quang Ninh to continue working closely together and support the completion of follow-up reports for submission to the World Heritage Centre and IUCN.
Cruise ships operate in Ha Long Bay. (Photo: Lux Group/Vietnam+)
Deputy Minister Cuong emphasized that the Ministry will continue to ensure local authorities comply with the World Heritage Convention and its operational guidelines, particularly when implementing development projects.
He also stressed that while the Vietnamese government prioritizes high economic growth—aiming for double-digit growth in the near future—this will not come at the expense of environmental protection or the conservation and promotion of heritage values, especially those recognised by UNESCO./.
