Central government departments are calling for more efforts to help protect China's cultural and natural heritage sites which they say are suffering because of exploitation and over development.

Exploitation by tourism development and ignorance towards protection have become the main threats for China's 28 World Culture and Nature Heritage sites, according to a document jointly issued by the Ministry of Culture and eight other departments under the State Council over the weekend.

Many local governments and heritage site authorities regard the sites as a money tree for them to attract tourists and are usually reluctant to invest in protecting them. Such ignorance has brought bad results both to heritage and to the whole protection strategy in China.

Experts from the World Heritage Committee have shown the yellow card to Zhangjiajie Scenic Spot, in central China's Hunan Province, where tourist and natural resources have been seriously harmed since it was listed on the World Nature Heritage List in 1992.

To pay for the mistakes of over-development in tourism, the local government of Zhangjiajie has decided to invest 345 million yuan (US$ 41 million) to pull down buildings put up in violation of regulations in the scenic area.

Nine government departments have asked branches at various levels to join in with efforts to strengthen the supervision over the development of tourism in heritage sites.

Anyone responsible for destroying or over-exploiting will be punished according to laws and regulations.

Officials have also asked administrators at heritage sites to strictly carry out the promise they made when they applied to be on the World Heritage List.

(China Daily May 1, 2002)