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 123,326 hectares and a buffer zone of 220,055 hectares.
Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park shares a natural boundary with Hin Nam No National Park of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
Lao PDR delegation attends the 47th Session of the World Heritage Committee (UNESCO) in Paris, France
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" according to the criteria of geology, geomorphology, ecosystem and biodiversity.
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. Located at the junction of the Annam Mountains and the Central Indochina Limestone Belt, spanning the border between Vietnam and the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The karst formations have developed since the Paleozoic period some 400 million years ago and can be considered the oldest, large-scale karst area in Asia.
The Lao PDR delegation was pleased with the decision of UNESCO to approve the adjustment of the boundary 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 diversity of ecosystems found in this complex landscape includes dry karst forests at high altitudes, moist and dense forests at low altitudes, and extensive underground cave environments. These underground structures include over 220 km of caves and underground river systems that are recognised as globally significant. The unique biodiversity with some endemic species living in tropical mixed ecosystems also makes it of exceptional value, of global significance.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park and Hin Nam No National Park are 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. On the surface, the diversity of polygonal karst features recorded to date is not found anywhere else in the world.
Underground, the extraordinary diversity of caves (including dry caves, terraced caves, tree caves and intersecting caves) provides evidence of past geological processes, from ancient river channels, abandonment or alteration of river routes, to the deposition and subsequent re-dissolution of giant stalactites.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Vietnam
Of particular importance are the Son Doong and Xe Bang Fai caves, which contain the world's largest recorded cave passage in terms of diameter and continuity, and the largest active river passage and single cave reservoir (water formed by calcite sediments), respectively.
According to UNESCO, Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park and Hin Nam No National Park are places to protect globally significant ecosystems in the Northern Annamite Rainforest terrestrial ecoregion, the Northern Annamite and Southern Annamite freshwater ecoregions, and the priority Annamite Wet Forest ecoregion.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Vietnam
The complexity and relative integrity of the limestone landscape has resulted in the creation of numerous ecological niches, providing opportunities for ecological processes and species evolution. Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park and Hin Nam No National Park are home to highly specialised and endemic flora and fauna both above ground (such as some orchids and Cyclamen) and underground (with some invertebrates and fish restricted to single cave systems).
A rich biodiversity of terrestrial, freshwater and subterranean species can be found in this area. Over 2,700 vascular plant species and 800 vertebrate species have been recorded in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, over 200 of which were globally threatened at the time of its inscription in 2015 and 400 species endemic to Central Laos and Vietnam.
The management of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park and Hin Nam No National Park is proposed in two separate Management Plans (Hin Nam No National Park Management Plan and Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park Strategic Management Plan).
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Vietnam
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.
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 accelerated after the two governments agreed on the policy (in early 2023) on developing 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 Lao Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Suanesavanh Vignaket to implement the following contents: agreeing on the plan to develop the 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 developing 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 develop the dossier.
Karst landscape, southeast of Vangmaneur village in Hin Nam No National Park, Lao PDR
View from inside Xe Bang Fai Cave, Hin Nam No National Park, Lao PDR
Speaking at the 47th Session, Deputy Minister, Dr. Architect Hoang Dao Cuong said that 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 friendship and solidarity between the two countries.
The fact that Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park and Hin Nam No National Park were listed as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO is considered a symbol of cooperation between the two countries in the field of cultural heritage, thereby contributing to further strengthening and consolidating the friendly, united and close relationship between Vietnam and the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/unesco-cong-nhan-di-san-lien-bien-gioi-vuon-quoc-gia-phong-nha-ke-bang-va-vuon-quoc-gia-hin-nam-no-lao-151784.html
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