Chinese Shennongjia National Park is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List

Almaty. July 18. Silkroadnews – The Chinese Shennongjia National Park in Hubei Province is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, the organization’s website informed.

“The World Heritage Committee, on the last afternoon of its 40th session which opened on 10 July, inscribed eight new sites on the List: one transnational site (in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan), and others in Canada, Chad, China, Iraq, Iran, Mexico and Sudan,” the statement said.

Among the sites included there is Hubei Shennongjia National Park. Located in central-eastern China, in Hubei Province, the site consists of two components: Badong to the west and Laojunshan to the east. It protects the largest primary forests remaining in Central China and provides habitat for many rare animal species, such as the Chinese Giant Salamander, the Golden or Snub-nosed Monkey, the Clouded Leopard, Common Leopard and the Asian Black Bear.

“Hubei Shennongjia is one of three centers of biodiversity in China. The site features prominently in the history of botanical research and was the object of international plant collecting expeditions in the 19th and 20th centuries,” the report states.

Other sites included are – Western Tien-Shan (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan), Ecological Reserve Mistaken Point (Canada), Archipelago de Revillagigedo (Mexico), Sanganeb Marine National Park and Dungonab Bay – Mukkawar Island (Sudan), Lut Desert (Iran). The new mixed, cultural and natural sites included are: natural and cultural landscape of the Ennedi mountain plateau (Chad) and Mesopotamian marshlands of southern Iraq – a center of biodiversity and landscapes of relict Mesopotamian cities.