On July 13, 2025, at the 47th Session of the World Heritage Committee (UNESCO) in Paris, the French Republic adopted a Decision approving the significant boundary adjustment of the World Natural Heritage Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park (Quang Tri Province, Vietnam) to include Hin Nam No National Park (Kham Muon Province, Lao People's Democratic Republic), with the name: "Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park and Hin Nam No National Park" in the World Heritage List.
Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park was ranked as a Special National Scenic Landscape by the Prime Minister in 2009. On July 3, 2003, at the 27th Session of the World Heritage Committee, Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park was recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage for the first time and on July 3, 2015, at the 39th Session of the World Heritage Committee, Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park was recognized for the second time with a core area of 123,326ha and a buffer zone of 220,055ha. Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park shares a natural boundary with Hin Nam No National Park of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
The dossier of Hin Nam No National Park nominated by UNESCO for recognition as an extension of the World Natural Heritage Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park was jointly submitted by the Lao and Vietnamese Governments to UNESCO in February 2024, for consideration by the World Heritage Committee at this Session.
Through the appraisal process, UNESCO's Advisory Body, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), submitted a Decision to the World Heritage Committee at its 47th Session to approve the boundary adjustment of the World Natural Heritage Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park (Quang Tri Province, Vietnam) to expand to Hin Nam No National Park (Kham Muon Province, Lao People's Democratic Republic), with the name: "Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park and Hin Nam No National Park".
The joint management of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park and Hin Nam No National Park has been signed by localities of Vietnam and Laos for many years, which includes joint activities on law enforcement and development of action plans to protect the values of the heritage.
It can be said that the coordination process between the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism in researching, developing and completing the nomination dossier from 2018 to present has been really promoted after the two governments agreed in early 2023 on the development of a nomination dossier for Hin Nam No National Park (Laos) as a cross-border World Heritage Site with the World Natural Heritage Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park (Vietnam).
On that basis, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung had direct working sessions with Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism of Laos Suanesavanh Vignaket to implement the following contents: agreeing on the plan to build a nomination dossier, assigning the specialized agencies of the two sides, the Department of Cultural Heritage of Vietnam, to directly coordinate, guide and support the Department of Cultural Heritage of Laos in the entire process of building the dossier, along with the enthusiastic support of the People's Committee of Quang Binh province (now Quang Tri province), the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Management Board of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, and relevant agencies to build the dossier. The two sides also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on January 10, 2018 between the two Ministries of Culture on supporting Laos to make Hin Nam No National Park a World Natural Heritage;
Establish a Working Group of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to support the Lao People's Democratic Republic in developing a dossier for Hin Nam No to submit to UNESCO for recognition as a World Heritage Site; provide comments on the Summary Report of Hin Nam No to propose UNESCO to include it in the Tentative List of Nominations;
Provide documents and dossiers of the Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park World Natural Heritage for Laos to study and include in the nomination dossier; send delegations of Vietnamese experts and specialists to participate in seminars and work on the development of the heritage nomination dossier; organize conferences in person and online to discuss with Laos to complete the nomination dossier, and agree to send it to UNESCO in February 2024.
Speaking at the 47th Session after the World Heritage Committee officially adopted the Decision approving the significant boundary adjustment of the World Natural Heritage Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park (Quang Tri Province, Vietnam) to include Hin Nam No National Park (Kham Muon Province, Lao People's Democratic Republic), with the name: "Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park and Hin Nam No National Park" in the World Heritage List, the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Chairman of the National Heritage Committee of the Lao People's Democratic Republic emphasized: Today marks a meaningful day and a proud moment for the Lao Government and the entire Lao society, when Hin Nam No National Park of the Lao People's Democratic Republic has been officially inscribed as an extension of the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park World Heritage in Vietnam.
The Government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic will continue to work with Viet Nam to strengthen cooperation at all levels of society, with a focus on enhancing the consultative and inclusive participation of local communities in the management of this precious world heritage.
Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Dao Cuong, Head of the Vietnamese delegation attending the meeting, affirmed: Yesterday, also here, the leaders of the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism had a friendly discussion to discuss the direction of better cooperation in managing Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park and Hin Nam No National Park in the coming time.
The event of “Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park and Hin Nam No National Park” becoming the first transboundary World Heritage Sites of Vietnam and the Lao People's Democratic Republic shows the importance of global cooperation through the nomination of common heritage, contributing to the promotion of peace and security from the perspective of UNESCO, further tightening the special friendship between the two countries.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park and Hin Nam No National Park are among the most outstanding and intact karst landscapes and ecosystems in the world.
The two parks are also among the largest intact tropical wet karst systems in the world. The distinctive topography and diversity of the karst landscape is formed by the complex intercalation of limestone karst with shale, sandstone and granite.
The two sites also protect globally significant ecosystems within the Northern Annamite Rainforests terrestrial ecoregion, the Northern and Southern Annamite Freshwater ecoregions, and the Wet Annamite Range Forests priority ecoregion.
Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/bieu-tuong-cua-tinh-huu-nghi-dac-biet-151799.html
Comment (0)