Domestics Affairs
UNESCO tag a double-edged sword
By Wei Houkai (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-06 07:59
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China's Danxia Landform has been named a UNESCO World Heritage site, evoking cheers and worries from the people. The Danxia Landform consists of red bed characterized by steep cliffs. It is spread over six provinces in Central, South, East and Southwest China: Mount Langshan and Wanfoshan (Hunan), Mount Danxia (Guangdong), Taining and Guanzhishan (Fujian), Mount Longhushan and Guifeng (Jiangxi), Mount Jianglangshan (Zhejiang) and Mount Chishui (Guizhou).
Many people say the more than 1 billion yuan ($146.87 million) spent by the six local governments to earn the world heritage tag may not be worth it. They also question the money and efforts that local governments across the country are putting in to get the UNESCO stamp for 35 other sites.
They have to understand that the world heritage honor is a hard-won and invaluable acknowledgement of the history and culture of a country. And the beautiful Danxia Landform deserves it. Besides, its new status would make it a popular tourist destination for tourists from home and across the world.
Bidding for the UNESCO World Heritage status, of course, requires huge funds.
But in return, it brings an honor that perhaps cannot be measured in terms of money despite the revenue it generates from the tourism and related industries.
A lot more tourists are expected to flock to the six provinces that the Danxia Landform is spread across. That will not only increase tourism revenue manifold, but also boost the economies of the six provinces.
The world heritage status, therefore, should be seen as a start to better governance by the six provinces, although the UNESCO tag will create enormous pressure on them.
First, now that the Danxia Landform has been declared a world heritage site, the six provinces have to spend more money and strengthen their management to maintain the area.
But since they have already spent more than 1 billion yuan, they may not have enough funds left in their budgets to do so properly. For example, the Xinning county government in Hunan spent about 400 million yuan to get Mount Langshan in the Danxia Landform world heritage site. The amount is double the county's yearly fiscal income of about 200 million yuan.
So, it will be a big problem for the Hunan government to realize the huge amount it spent on bidding for the world heritage status, let alone have enough funds to preserve the province's natural sites. The condition of the other local governments is not likely to be much better than Hunan's. This means they have to treat this issue seriously and raise more money by imposing entrance fees and commercializing the upkeep of the site.
In the past, bidding for world heritage status was more often than not a national affair and got the support of the entire country. But now that the country has 40 world heritage sites, people's enthusiasm seems to have waned from the time when they rallied for national pride to get the Great Wall and the Forbidden City the UNESCO stamp.
More world heritage status creates more pressure on local governments to preserve and manage the sites, because in such a situation tourism development becomes of second importance for them. And that may stunt economic growth. Hence, viewed on a grander scale, there is growing awareness for the preservation of natural and cultural sites in China.
People are less inclined to back governments' bids for more heritage sites to get the UNESCO stamp, for they assume it is a natural and logical process.
But the more world heritage sites are recognized in China, the more famous they would become in the wider world.
But that does not mean the central or local governments use the bidding as camps to determine their political performance and clear the path of some local officials to climb the career ladder.
Another question is how the local governments can ensure that people share the benefits of a site or building declared a world heritage site. To do that, they have to focus on four areas.
First, they should use the UNESCO honor to develop tourism and related industries such as catering and hotel services to create more jobs for the local people.
Second, they have to combine the efforts to remodel the basic facilities such as roads and sanitation, keeping the interests of the local people in mind.
Third, they have to build a long-term "grand-tourism" industry to get more tourists interested in the local culture, cuisine and other important local attractions.
And last, if local governments have to demolish or take over structures and neighborhoods for tourism development, they have to see to it that the displaced people are compensated and rehabilitated properly.
The author is deputy director of the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies, affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
This is an excerpt of his interview with China Daily's He Bolin.