A social foundation has been named after Howart Limbert, who has led ateam of the British Cave Research Association to explore caves in thePhong Nha-Ke Bang National Park , the central province ofQuang Binh , for the past two decades.

Nguyen ChauA, Director of the Oxalis Travel Company Limited, on April 10 said theLimbert Foundation will grant scholarships for students in Minh Hoadistrict to encourage them studying and working for Quang Binh’s tourismsector.

It will also invite tourism experts to train local tourism staff and build community-based tourism programmes.

Limbert and his wife will act as advisors having the decisive say inscholarship recipients and community-based tourism programmes, A said.

As the organisation’s founder, Oxalis plans to spend200 million VND (over 9,500 USD) in 2014 on helping two local householdsprovide homestay services and presenting scholarships to 10 students inTan Hoa commune, Minh Hoa district.

The foundation will also offer a training course on food safety for residents living by tourism in the park this year.

Covering an area of 85,754ha, the Phong Nha-Ke Bang NationalPark was recognised as a World Natural Heritage Site on geological andgeomorphological criteria by UNESCO in 2003.

Its core zone subject to strict protection is located in Bo Trach andMinh Hoa districts, while the buffer zone covering 20,000ha spreads outover 13 communes in three districts - Bo Trach, Minh Hoa and Quang Ninh.

The property contains and protects over104 km of caves and underground rivers, making it one of the mostoutstanding limestone karst ecosystems in the world. The karst formationhas evolved since the Palaeozoic period (some 400 million years ago)and as such is the oldest major karst area in Asia .

The park is also home to a large number of faunal and floral species,including threatened species such as tiger, Asiatic black bear, Asianelephant, giant muntjac, Asian wild dog and the recently discovered saola.-VNA