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The South China Karst, made up of the stone forest in Yunnan Province, Libo County in Guizhou Province, and Wulong County in Chongqing City, was a source of great pride for Chinese people after it was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List, but according to Liu Wenwei, Party secretary of Shilin County, top priority should be given to better protection of the natural heritage.

Considered as the "Museum of Karst Topography," the Shilin Karst is famed for stones that are majestic and oddly shaped and massive in size. As early as 17 years ago, Shilin began organizing its bid to be added to the World Heritage List. It formally withdrew from the application race in 1991 for a lack of systematic comparison to other karst topography worldwide.

However, considering the unique opportunity, Shilin never waned in its protection of the environment, with the local government dedicating 284 million yuan towards reconstruction and rehabilitation work in the area.

According to the local tourism bureau, the recent inclusion will definitely attract more visitors to Shilin and boost the local economy. Some 2.4 million visitors from home and abroad visited the region last year and generated 260 million yuan in direct revenue, the number being expected to reach 400 million in 2010.

More importantly, the government is well aware that the desperate pursuit of economic interests could lead to irretrievable losses to the fragile environment.

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee warned during its convention this year that six of China's World Heritage sites could be placed on an endangered list: the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and the Summer Palace in Beijing; the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet; and the Three Parallel Rivers and the Old Town of Lijiang in Yunnan Province.

Although these sites have since passed the censors and managed to escape from the endangered list, the problems of over commercialization in some areas are still serious, as man-made structures like cable cars and hotels are built in the protection zones at the cost of the local environment.

Unwilling to follow the same disastrous road, Shilin has its own plan: relocate villages outwards, remove hotels and bridges in the protection zone, and allocate 20 million yuan annually for the establishment of new villages and preservation of the eco-system.

Wukeshu, for instance, used to be a poverty-stricken village surrounded by the stone forest. The living conditions for the residents have been greatly improved since the opening of the reserve in the 1970s with per capita income rising from lower than 300 yuan to 5,000 yuan per year, said Pu Guoliang, head of the village.

All the 267 families will move out of the core area by 2008 and it may affect their lives in short term, but the plan is still backed by the villagers because they understand it's a move their descendants can benefit from, Pu noted.

According to the plan, 100 million yuan will be earmarked for the relocation and a suggestion has been made to transform the current Wukeshu Village into a folk-custom exhibition hall.

"Our ultimate goal lies in better protection rather than just being listed as a world heritage site; during the application process we have learned how to better treat our surroundings," Liu confided.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, July 5, 2007)