Vietnam will apply for the inscription of the Ba Be National Park on the Ramsar List of Westlands of International Importance, the government said Saturday.

A report on the government’s website said the Ministry of Natural Resources will apply for the inscription in accordance with the Ramsar Convention – an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands.

The Ba Be National Park in the northern province of Bac Kan was established in 1992, with the 500-hectare Ba Be Lake at its center. The park is home to 299 animal species and 417 plant species.

In 1995, the lake was named one of 20 in the world that needed  to be protected at a global lake convention in the US. The lake is also one of the Heritage Parks of the regional bloc ASEAN, the government’s report said.

The Ramsar Convention came into force in 1975. There are now 160 contracting parties, with Vietnam joining in 1989. The Ramsar List includes 1,904  sites, known as Ramsar Sites, with a total surface of more than 186.5 million hectares.