On June 9th, 2018, China’s second Cultural and Natural Heritage Day Conferencewas held in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing. Since China’s inclusion in the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritagein 1985, 53 World Heritage sites have been recognised. Within these sites, there are 13 natural sites, and four mixed cultural and natural sites in China, with the total area exceeding 68,000 km2.

According to theReform Programme of the Party and State Institutions, all nature reserves, scenic areas, world heritage sites (natural and mixed), and geological parks in China are under unified management of the State Forestry and Grassland Bureau. Mr. ZHANG Jianlong, Director of the State Forestry and Grassland Bureau, stated: “China will continue to recommend its most classic, distinguished and outstanding sites for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

At the conference, Robert PARUA from UNESCO's representative office in China issued the World Heritage certificate to Qinghai Hoh Xil, which was inscribed oo the List in 2017. The Expert Committee on World Heritage for State Forestry and Grassland Bureau was established. A letter of appointment was conferred to Academician Mr. LIU Jiaqi who represented the committee. Dr WEN Cheng, the natural heritage expert of WHITRAP, joined the committee.