Project boosts local engagement for Ha Long Bay’s sustainable development
A project promoting local engagement for sustainable development of Ha Long Bay has borne fruit after three years of implementation, heard a meeting in northern Quang Ninh province on May 30.
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MCD Director Nguyen Thu Hue said Ha Long – Cat Ba Alliance is a public-private cooperation initiative funded by the US. The project aims to build a partnership between the Government, businesses and local authorities to promote the conservation and protection of Ha Long Bay and nearby Cat Ba archipelago of Hai Phong city, thus ensuring sustainable development.
Beginning in 2014, the project has supported the aquaculture association in Ha Long Bay with heritage preservation activities while building sustainable aquaculture. It has also stepped up communications to encourage inter-sectoral cooperation and relevant parties’ participation, and enhanced their capacity in project implementation and supervision, she added.
Vice Chairman of the Quang Ninh provincial People’s Committee Dang Huy Hau, head of the project coordinating board, said the conservation and sustainable development of Ha Long Bay is a continuous, long-term process that requires multilateral cooperation.
This type of cooperation will ensure better decision making since it gathers multiple viewpoints, builds trust through respecting each member’s contribution, ensures benefits for all sides and forms partnerships to create unanimity among them.
It will create a foundation for improved management of natural heritage sites like Ha Long Bay, he added.
Ha Long Bay was recognised as a world natural heritage site by UNESCO in 1994 (for landscape values) and 2000 (for geological and geomorphological values). Quang Ninh is preparing to submit a dossier to UNESCO to seek a third recognition of Ha Long Bay, associated with Cat Ba, as a world natural heritage site in terms of archeological values.
