Decision 28 COM 15B.13

Ha Long Bay (Viet Nam)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Commends the State Party for its efforts to monitor immigration of fishermen into the site, setting standards for compliance by aquaculture practitioners and a number of other regulatory and legislative instruments for the management of the Ha Long Bay World Heritage area;

2. Urges the State Party to take an integrated planning approach in the interest of sustainable development and conservation of the values of the World Heritage property, giving special attention to the many threats impacting on the Property which include increasing population in the floating community, massive tourism infrastructure development, urbanization, aquaculture activities, industrialization etc.;

3. Commends the State Party for the substantial provincial efforts in capacity building, awareness raising and addressing challenges for sustainable development in the region and invites the international community to support these efforts ;

4. Applauds the increased effective collaboration between Ha Long Bay Management Authority, the Provincial Government and national government, with various international partners such as IUCN, the US Government and others in capacity-building initiative promoting integrated marine and coastal management in the Province of Quang Ninh;

5. Notes with appreciation State Party efforts to develop a number of environmental management, awareness building and capacity building projects and programmes with international, national and provincial partners;

6. Invites the State Party to consider documenting the outcomes of successful projects and programme that have helped to improve environmental quality and disseminate the information internationally and nationally; and

7. Recommends the State Party to co-operate with IUCN and the World Heritage Centre to involve tourism and other development sector enterprises in the Ha Long Bay area to contribute towards conservation and effective management of the property.