China.org.cn
July 26, 2006

This year’s UNESCO World Heritage conference requested additional material from the Chinese government so that next year’s meeting could decide whether to put the Three Parallel Rivers region on the endangered list.

The Three Parallel Rivers Region of southwest China’s Yunnan Province was inscribed on the World Heritage List as a natural property at the 27th session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) held on July 2, 2003. However, at the 30th session held in Vilnius, Lithuania from July 8 to 16 this year, the region was listed one of the key projects under WHC’s monitoring due to its worsening environment, China Youth Daily reported on July 18. A report, submitted by experts from the WHC and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), pointed out that the main threats the region is facing include planned hydroelectric development, mining exploration, dam construction and tourism development. Hydroelectric development Located in the mountains of Yunnan Province, the Sanjiang — the Jinsha, Nujiang and Lancang rivers — originate from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and run almost parallel to one another north to south for some 170 kilometers, shouldering a total land area of approximately 1.7 million hectares.