Ba Be Lake is set to receive a UNESCO certificate recognising it as Viet Nam's third Ramsar site on the World Environment Day (June 5).
The first and second Ramsar sites include the Xuan Thuy National Park in the northern province of Nam Dinh and the Bau Sau area in the Cat Tien National Park, southern province of Dong Nai.
Ba Be Lake, in the northern province of Bac Kan, covers an area of 500ha and is situated at 178m above sea level. With an average depth of 17-23m, the lake is the largest natural lake to be found in Vietnamese mountains.
The lake, the result of an earthquake, is a freshwater lake to have formed on limestone terrain in the world, keeping it from drying out.
According to an Institute of Geo-sciences and Mineral Resources survey, an earthquake caused the collapse of the subterranean Nang River, creating a natural dam which led to the formation of Ba Be over 11,000 years ago. The cataclysm was additionally responsible for the area's temperate and tropical biodiversity.
The Ramsar Convention (A Convention on Wetlands of International Importance) is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable development of wetlands.