“Ha Long – Cat Ba Alliance: Local Engagement for Sustainable Development Project” is funded by The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), developed and implemented by 3 organizations: the Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD), PanNature, and the Centre for Environment and Community Research (CECR). The main objective is “to catalyze sustainable actions in order to improve environmental management and protect the natural integrity of the Ha Long Bay World Heritage Site including the Cat Ba Archipelago.”

The project comprises three main components:

• 1^st Component: Strengthening the planning framework and management system using an integrated approach and for sustainable aquaculture in Ha Long Bay (HLB) in association with heritage conservation.
• 2^nd Component: Promoting good practices for local communities in planning and implementing processes for environmental-friendly aquaculture in the link with responsible tourism in HLB.
• 3^rd Component: Increasing inter-sectoral and multi-stakeholders collaborations in environmental management aiming at HLB sustainable development.

For the 2^nd component: Promoting good practices for local communities in planning and implementing processes for environmental-friendly aquaculture in the link with responsible tourism in HLB.

+ Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) has completed the detailed aquaculture planning outline for HLB – waiting to be approved by the authorities.

+ DARD with experts from the Academy of Natural Resources and Environment have done the environmental impact and capacity assessments for aquaculture activities in Vung Vieng

+ HLBMD has drafted the HLB World Heritage Site management plan period 2016-2020 with expert consultation.

+ Training activities on multi-cooperation were conducted by international experts with the participations of many departments, unions, and press agencies of Quang Ninh.

Figure 1: MCD in collaboration with the People’s Committee of Ha Long held a meeting to draft the integrated management plan for Ha Long Bay period 2016 – 2020 with the experts’ technical and consultation inputs on May 31, 2016

+ Multiple surveys and community consultations conducted by MCD in collaboration with agencies and organizations to examine the participation and cooperation involved in the management and use of the World Heritage properties in HLB, provided a baseline for the project implementation phase.

Figure 2: Field trips to aquaculture models in Binh Dinh and Quy Nhon Provinces in April, 2016