Decision 41 COM 7B.33

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park (Viet Nam) (N 951bis)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/17/41.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 40 COM 7B.91, adopted at its 40th session (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016),
3. Welcomes the State Party’s efforts to enhance law enforcement, increase conservation awareness among local communities and improve the conservation of biodiversity in the property;
4. Notes that the data provided indicate that poaching and illegal logging remain on-going threats and do not enable an assessment of the effectiveness of law enforcement and the status and trends of wildlife populations, and reiterates its request to the State Party to provide:
   a) Data on the results of its law enforcement activities to address illegal logging and poaching,
   b)Updated data on the population status of key large mammal species, including the tiger, Asiatic black bear, Asian elephant, giant muntjac, Asian wild dog, gaur and saola,
   and requests the State Party to include clarifications on the methods used, the frequency of patrols and the areas covered, visualized on maps;
5. Reiterates its concern about proposals to construct a cable car to provide access to the Son Doong cave within the property, and takes note of the confirmation of the State Party that it has no intention to build a cable car system, either in Son Doong Cave, or providing access to it;
6. Notes with concern that a number of other issues are affecting the property, including inadequate conservation funding, impacts of climate change and invasive species, and also requests the State Party to provide further information on the measures taken to address these issues, in particular to address the threat posed by the invasive species Merremia boisiana;
7. Recalling its request to the State Party to revise the property’s Sustainable Tourism Development Plan in order to include the 2015 extension of the property and ensure that an integrated and environmentally sensitive approach to tourism is adopted so as to guarantee that visitor use remains compatible with the OUV of the property, further requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, for review by IUCN, the relevant tourism planning documents for the property;
8. Requests furthermore the State Party to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission to the property in order to assess its state of conservation, the impacts of poaching, illegal logging, and invasive species, and to provide advice to the State Party regarding sustainable tourism that is compatible with the OUV, including at Son Doong cave;
9. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2018, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at -its 43rd session in 2019.