China's State Council has approved the habitat of giant pandas in southwest China's Sichuan Province as the sole site in the country to apply for the Word Heritage Natural List in 2006, said a source with the provincial working office of World Heritage sites. 

The application was officially delivered to the World Heritage Center of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which is scheduled to be put to vote by experts in the World Heritage Congress held next year.

According to Zhang Hu, director of the working office, the habitat of giant pandas in the Qionglai Mountain system in Sichuan will be the first to apply for the World Natural Heritage List, which includes Wolong Nature Reserve, Four Girls Hill and Jiajin Mountain.

There are four natural reserves and six scenic spots in the application area, where about 300 wild giant pandas live.

According to Deng Xiangsui, director of wild animal protection under the provincial forestry department, giant pandas have been under "favorable protection" in the province, which has developed 35 giant panda reserves with habitat areas totaling 17,000 square kilometers.

About 1,206 giant pandas are at large in the wild in the province, 76 percent of the country's total. One hundred twenty giant pandas live in captivity in the province, the most in the country, the official said.

There are only 1,590 giant pandas in the wild in the world, mainly scattered in the mountains and hills around Sichuan Basin in southwest China. There are just 160 in captivity. 

(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2005)