China’s comprehensive system for protecting its World Heritage sites has yielded exceptional results, with all natural heritage locations maintaining excellent condition while simultaneously driving economic benefits for local communities, according to a landmark assessment report released by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.
The extensive evaluation, covering four decades of conservation efforts from 1985 to 2025, reveals that China’s 15 natural heritage sites and 4 mixed cultural-natural sites have experienced no severe human-caused damage or threats to their outstanding universal value. These protected areas span approximately 80,000 square kilometers across 20 provincial regions, encompassing extraordinarily diverse ecosystems ranging from mountains and forests to wetlands, deserts, and coastal zones.
At a recent press conference, Liu Jiaqi, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, emphasized that China has achieved remarkable success through its protected areas system, particularly in institutional development, regulatory frameworks, heritage value presentation, and public awareness initiatives. The country has pioneered distinctive governance models that integrate nature and culture, implement regionally coordinated management, promote sustainable tourism development, and establish community co-governance structures.
International conservation assessments corroborate China’s positive trajectory. According to Yuan Jiming, director of the administration’s nature reserve management department, four editions of the IUCN World Heritage Outlook published between 2014 and 2025 consistently demonstrate that China’s natural and mixed heritage sites outperform global averages in conservation effectiveness.
Beyond strict protection measures, China has actively developed mechanisms to transform ecological value into sustainable community benefits. Through eco-cultural tourism, nature education programs, study tours, and under-forest non-timber economies, heritage sites have become engines of local development. Notably, over 90% of these sites prioritize employing local residents in conservation roles, while tourism has emerged as a pillar industry in numerous regions.
In 2024 alone, these heritage destinations attracted more than 180 million tourist visits, generating approximately 184.3 billion yuan ($26.6 billion) in consumption. At iconic locations like Jiuzhaigou, Huangshan Mountain, and Wulingyuan, tourism-related revenue constitutes over 50% of local GDP.
The administration has pledged to continue enhancing protection measures while promoting sustainable utilization of these natural treasures. Future strategies will focus on ecological conservation and green development, with particular emphasis on building diversified ecological product systems that meet public aspirations for improved quality of life while advancing regional economic, social, and cultural progress.