Giant Panda Sanctuary inscribed on World Heritage List

IUCN News - Giant Panda Sanctuary, Malpelo Island and Kvarken Archipelago inscribed on World Heritage List: "Giant Panda Sanctuary, Malpelo Island and Kvarken Archipelago inscribed on World Heritage List"

Following a year long, rigorous process, IUCN, the technical advisory body on natural heritage to the World Heritage Committee, presented the results of its evaluations of 9 nominated properties today.

“This is a great success for China , the World Heritage Convention and for conservation in general,” said David Sheppard , Head of the IUCN delegation in Vilnius . “It shows how the World Heritage Convention can encourage governments to ensure the greatest level of protection for globally important sites.”

After today’s decisions by the 30th session of the World Heritage Committee, the World Heritage List now includes 162 natural properties. The Committee continues to meet in Vilnius until the 16 July and is also considering the inscription of cultural sites onto the UNESCO List.

http://www.iucn.org/themes/wcpa/wheritage/wh2006photos/whphotos2006.htmlwe

Funny thing: the website page had this title:
"World Conservation Union launches new project to prevent illegal forest activities in Ghana"
will they change it?

[update:]
wow! i forgot to quote the best part!

The Committee applauded the tremendous efforts of China for their excellent nomination protecting key habitat for the endangered Giant Panda. This nomination was presented for the first time some 20 years ago, but the Government of China was requested to bring forward a larger nomination and address management issues, which it did successfully.

whc webpage:
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/266

[update2:]
articles:
http://china.org.cn/english/2006/Jul/174491.htm

"We thank the Chinese government for submitting such a good application to the WHC to enrich the World Heritage List and its tremendous efforts to protect such a precious site of bio-diversity," the WHC said.

"That's why UNESCO's World Heritage Center was keen to put it on the list," she added.

Former China Director of the WWF, James Harkness, said previously that the panda's territory was one of the most critical regions for bio-diversity conservation in the world. Its diverse habitats contain many rare and endangered animals and plant species.

The giant pandas and their habitat will be protected in the future not only in accordance with Chinese law but also international law.

As China is not one of the 21 members of the WHC, it did not submit a report on the site, Wang told reporters, adding that the WHC agreed to place the site on the list after deliberating a report submitted by international experts.

Experts said in the report that urgent improvements have to be made to protect the site. They proposed that construction and development inside the habitat area be strictly controlled.

In french:
http://french1.peopledaily.com.cn/Culture/4588996.html
http://www.chine-informations.com/mods/news/une-reserve-chinoise-de-pandas-inscrite-sur-la-liste-du-patrimoine-mondial-unesco_4898.html