On May 31, 2016, in Ha Long City, People’s Committee of Ha Long in collaboration with the Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD) hold a consultative conference with experts and facilitation of project partners to build a 5-year strategy 2016 – 2020 with integrated management approaches for Ha Long Bay (HLB). This activity was within the framework of “Ha Long – Cat Ba Alliance: Local Engagement for Sustainable Development Project” led by MCD, PanNature and CECR, and funded by USAID. Before the consultative conference, Ha Long Management Department has worked hard and consulted with relevant authorities at Quang Ninh to build the drafted integrated management plan.

Mr. Ho Quang Huy – Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ha Long City opened the conference with the participation of 30 people. At the conference, consultants with highly-qualified experience provided inputs on heritage management, intergraded coastal zone management, fisheries planning, tourism development, nature conservation, etc. These consultants are coming from specialized agencies including the Department of Cultural Heritage; the Vietnam Environment Administration; Vietnam Ocean Data and Information Center; Institute of Environmental Technology;  Trung tâm quy hoạch và quản lý  tổng hợp  vùng duyên hải; Institute of Fisheries Economics and Planning; National Commission for UNESCO; Hanoi University; PanNature; and MCD. The conference recognized that developing a branding, marketing and outreach strategy for multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder collaboration should be evident in the management plan of HLB. In addition, participants had shared and agreed on the importance values of HLB, the precious natural heritage, internationally and nationally as well as the challenges in managing and conserving those values in the complex context of multiple stakeholders and parties’ collaboration involved in its usage and exploitation.

Figure 1: Mr. Ho Quang Huy – Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ha Long City spoke at the conference

Heritage conservation plan is one of the mandatory requirement of UNESCO for the World Heritage properties. The integrated management plan for HLB 2016 – 2020 is the continuation if the achievements form the Heritage Management Plan 2010-2015. This expressed the commitment of Quang Ninh Province in preserving and promoting the values of Ha Long Bay as a World Heritage Site. The opinions of experts and participants will be considered to complete the drafted integrated management plan for HLB 2016—2020.  The final plan is expected to submit to the PPC for approval and report to UNESCO in 2016.