China’s three parallel rivers of Yunnan protected area was not inscribed into the List of the World Heritage in Danger, the World Heritage Committee (WHC) said in Vilnius , Lithuania yesterday. "The Committee decided not to put it into the List in Danger," Chairperson of the 30th session of the World Heritage Committee Ian Marciulionyte told a press conference after close-door discussions. Wang Fengwu, member of the Chinese delegation to the meeting told Xinhua that representatives of the meeting examined the protection state of the three parallel rivers of Yunnan protected area, which was added to the World Heritage List in 2003. Since its inscription, the area was listed as closely-watched protection site by the world heritage committee, said Wang, who is also deputy Director-General of Department of Urban Development Ministry of Construction of China. After discussion, the WHC proposed that complementary materials be submitted by Feb. 1 next year for the next session of the WHC to deliberate. Wang gave two reasons for the massive attention the WHC has paid to the area. "The three parallel rivers of Yunnan protected area is of universal value and in the class by itself, contributing greatly to the environment of China and the world at large," he said. Secondly, as the area covers Nujiang, Lancangjiang and Jinshajiang, any big project on any one of the three rivers would pose effect on it, he added. So far, the protecting state of the area "is quite good as the Chinese government has turned down all applications for building water plant projects over Jiangshajiang and Nujiang," Wang said. If big public projects are to be built in the future inside or around the protected site, national and international laws are to be observed, he noted. Before a decision to be made for the project, it should be formally reported to the World Heritage Center, which will make environment assessment to avoid damages to the site. The site consists of eight geographical clusters of protected areas within the boundaries of the Three Parallel Rivers National Park in the mountainous north-west of Yunnan Province. It covers 1.7 million hectares, featuring sections of the upper reaches of three of the great rivers of Asia, the Yangtze (Jinsha), Mekong (Lancangjiang) and Salween (Nujiang) that run roughly parallel, north to south, through steep gorges. The site is an epicenter of Chinese biodiversity and also one of the richest temperate regions of the world in terms of biodiversity.