The northern
port city of Hai Phong is striving its utmost to receive UNESCO recognition of
its Cat Ba archipelago as a world natural heritage site, a municipal official
has said Vietnam news.
At the
function, Dien confirmed that both the Vietnamese Government and local
authorities have worked hard to conserve biological diversity on Cat Ba
archipelago. Chairman of
the Hai Phong People’s Committee Duong Anh Dien made the remarks at a meeting with
representatives of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a
special advisor of UNESCO for world heritage, on September 28.
Cat Ba, Hai Phong in Vietnam
The meeting
was an essential element in the process of nominating Cat Ba archipelago as a
site of world natural heritage.
Next, IUCN
experts will make a field trip to Cat Ba archipelago , slated for October 3,
before sending their evaluation report to UNESCO.
At the
meeting, representatives of the Institute of Marine Environment and Resources,
the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, and the management board of Cat
Ba archipelago presented the outstanding features of the area’s heritage.
Located some
45 kilometres east of Haiphong and 150 kilometres southeast of Hanoi , Cat Ba
covers more than 17,000 hectares of land and 9,200 hectares of sea.
Recognised by
UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve, Cat Ba boasts a typical ecological system
in Vietnam , including tropical rain forests on limestone islands, mangrove
forests, coral reefs, sea grass, sand beaches and cave networks.
Cat Ba is
home to some 2,320 different types of fauna and flora, including 740 land
animals, 280 forest species, 540 seabed creatures, 200 fish species, 180 coral
reef organisms, 80 sea grass species and 20 different wetland plants.
