PARIS — Non Nước Cao Bằng Geopark in the northern border province of Cao Bằng was recognised as a global geopark by the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council in Paris yesterday.

This is the second UNESCO-recognised Global Geopark in Việt Nam after Đồng Văn Karst Plateau, received recognition eight years ago.

Non Nước Cao Bằng is about 300km from Hà Nội capital city. It covers more than 3,000sq.km in the districts of Hà Quảng, Trà Lĩnh, Quảng Uyên, Trùng Khánh, Hạ Lang and Phục Hòa and part of Hòa An, Nguyên Bình and Thạch An districts.

The geopark is home to fossils, ocean sediment, volcanic rocks, minerals, and especially karst landscapes, which can give researchers an insight into an more than 500 million years of history of the earth. It is also well known for rich biodiversity and many indigenous fauna and flora species.

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Lê Hoài Trung said the Global Geopark title is UNESCO’s recognition of diverse landscapes and spiritual cultural values of the Non Nước Cao Bằng area. It will also help the province boost sustainable socio-economic development and improve local living standards.

Ambassador Trần Thị Hoàng Mai, head of Việt Nam’s Permanent Mission to UNESCO, said UNESCO experts highly rated the importance of the Non Nước Cao Bằng Geopark.

Aside from natural values, it also contains a number of tangible and intangible cultural heritage assets, particularly revolutionary relic sites such as special national relic site of Pác Bó, where Nguyễn Ái Quốc or President Hồ Chí Minh, returned in 1941 to lead the domestic revolution after spending over 30 years overseas looking for ways to save the country.

It is also home to special national relic site of Trần Hưng Đạo Forest, where late General Võ Nguyên Giáp in 1944 established the Việt Nam Propaganda and Liberation Army, the predecessor of the Việt Nam People’s Army today.

Chairman of the Cao Bằng People’s Committee Hoàng Xuân Anh pledged that local authorities and people wouldl associate the conservation and development of Non Nước Cao Bằng Global Geopark with local socio-economic development in a sustainable manner.

Non Nước Cao Bằng was established in 2015. In November 2016, Cao Bằng submitted a dossier to UNESCO to seek the global geopark recognition. A survey team of UNESCO came to the province in July 2017 to make assessment of the park’s values and conservation work. — VNS