Central government has given a boost to a bid by the southwestern province of Sichuan to include the habitat of its giant pandas on the World Natural Heritage List.

According to the Sichuan Provincial World Heritage Office, the State Council recently agreed to name the habitat as the country's sole nominee for the 30th session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee to be held in 2006.

Hailed as a "living fossil," the giant panda, whose image is used as the logo of the World Wide Fund for Nature, has been around for about 3 million years. Many animals of its era perished a long time ago.

As a result of changes in natural conditions and human activity, the habitat of the giant panda has been fragmented, and their ability to adapt to the changing environment, breed and resist disease has dwindled.

These danger signs aroused the keen attention of the World Wide Fund for Nature, and resulted in Sichuan's application, said Zhang Hu, deputy chief of the province's World Heritage Office.

In July 2001, the office handed its request to the State Council, asking for it to be passed on to UNESCO and in March 2002, experts from the UNESCO World Heritage Committee inspected the pandas' home.

Last December, the State Council formally submitted the application to UNESCO, but would have still been able to put other nominees forward. The recent decision backs Sichuan's application alone.

The giant panda habitat is spread over Dayi County, Chongzhou, Dujiangyan, Qionglai and Ya'an cities and Wolong Nature Reserve, Siguniang Mountain and Jiajin Mountain Range in the Ganzi Tibetan and Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefectures.

The province has 1,206 wild pandas, accounting for 76 percent of the country's total.

According to Mao Hui, chief of Sichuan's World Heritage Office, if the application is successful it will help protect the giant pandas and their habitat.

Mao said that Sichuan has good reason to be optimistic about its entry because of the uniqueness of the giant panda and many other rare animals living in its abundant and beautiful habitat.

In addition, it is backed by many international organizations including the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which has volunteered to help Sichuan in its application, he said.

(China Daily March 30, 2005)