Quiet Contributions to Dong Van Karst Plateau

Apart from the effort of Ha Giang province and the entire nation, the rising of the rock plateau also comes from quiet supports and contributions of many people, said the officials of the Management Authority of Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark.

 

One of notable quiet contributors is Professor Tran Tan Van from the Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources. He and his institute were among the first to initiate the idea of building a global rock geopark and make Dong Van the first global karst geopark in Vietnam. To have the current results, he and his colleagues had to carry out a lot of journeys to this plateau to perform studies on the poorest area in the country by asset but the richest area by the value of geology and geomorphology. Professor Van and his colleagues like Professor Nguyen Dai Chung and Engineer Luong Thi Tuat had made enormous effort to introduce the karst plateau to the world.

 

 

The Vietnam Institute of Archaeology also has a lot of activities on this area. Many specialists and officials of the institute came to study this rocky place. But, their findings gave a new look to this rock plateau where humans lived dozens of thousands of years ago. Archaeological findings in Quan Ba and Yen Minh prove the diverse and intensive development of history and culture of this place. Trinh Van Chung, Nguyen Truong Dong and many other archaeologists from the Vietnam Institute of Archaeology silently contributed to this rock plateau.

 

Vietnamese and foreign specialists at UNESCO units are also quiet contributors to the karst plateau. Professor Guy Martini, a French coordinator at Global Geoparks Network (GGN), is among foreigners with the biggest contribution to the Dong Van Karst Plateau. Hoang Xuan Don and his wife, Nguyen Thi Nhung, - two officials of the Management Board of Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark, who met and worked with Professor Guy Martini for several times - said he was very enthusiastic and hard-working. He did not want to work routinely at the office but wanted to work outside the working office or meeting room. One time, he asked to work at a roadside teahouse to process his data and make conclusions to his survey. But, he seriously worked until midnight in a place we thought that he wanted to relax and drink tea. Like Professor Martini, many experts from Livingstone Organisation, Belgium Leuver University came to Ha Giang and Dong Van Karst Plateau many times to train tourism development, tour guidance and tourism development planning.

Many officials and experts from the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO, the UNESCO Hanoi Office, the External Culture and UNESCO under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have come to Ha Giang province many times to support the province and the Management Board of Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark to work out contents for construction and development of Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark. UNESCO units help Dong Van Karst Plateau fulfil criteria and recommendations of the Global Geopark Network and uphold the heritage value of Dong Van Karst Plateau.

 

In spite of its remoteness and poverty, the presence, support and contribution of many individuals and UNESCO representatives in Vietnam like Catherine Muller Marine, ambassadors of Belgium, Malaysia and Italy in Vietnam representatives from many nations in the world played an important role to the development of Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark. The Dong Van Karst Plateau has become a destination and a pride of our country. In that development, we do not forget the support in many different ways of organisations and individuals, including their silent but enthusiastic and effective support.