Ｆｏｒｕｍ ｏｎ Ｃｏｏｒｄｉｎａｔｅｄ Ｅｃｏｌｏｇｉｃａｌ ａｎｄ Ｓｏｃｉａｌ Ｄｅｖｅｌｏｐｍｅｎｔ ｏｆ Ｗｏｒｌｄ Ｈｅｒｉｔａｇｅ Ｓｉｔｅｓ Ｈｅｌｄ ａｔ Ｍｏｕｎｔ Ｅｍｅｉ

The Forum on Coordinated Ecological and Social Development of World Heritage Sites， a project under the 2006 cooperation programme between the Sichuan Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (SIFA) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation of Germany and jointly sponsored by the SIFA， Sichuan University and Chengdu University of Information Technology， was held at Mount Emei from December 9 to 10， 2006. Specialists， scholars， leading members of heritage sites and relevant government departments as well as researchers of institutes of higher learning and scientific research from home and abroad， totaling over 50， attended the Forum.

By 2006， five heritage sites in Sichuan Province have been included on the World Heritage List， namely: Jiuzhaigou Valley Scenic and Historic Interest Area， Huanglong Scenic and Historic Interest Area， Mount Emei Scenic Area including Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area， Mount Qingcheng and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System， and Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries. They take up 15.6 percent of the total number of the world heritage in China and 60 percent of the country’s world natural heritage. In recent years， a provincial world heritage management office in charge of resource investigation， appraisal， application for the inclusion on the World Heritage List， monitoring， protection and management of world heritage in Sichuan has been set up， and Regulations on the Protection of World Heritage in Sichuan Province have been promulgated. Efforts have been made by the heritage sites in the province to explore new ways to protect and manage these sites.

Convened on the basis of the 2005 Forum on the Protection and Management of World Heritage Sites， the Forum aimed at providing a theoretical basis and support for the decisions made by the relevant departments， especially the local governments，management agencies and enterprises of the world heritage sites through the cooperation and exchanges among the Chinese and foreign research institutes， and at the same time promoting academic exchanges among relevant institutes and their scientific researches by utilizing both domestic and foreign resources.

The participants discussed at the Forum topics such as ecology and society， protection and tourism development， ecology and cultural diversity， application for the inclusion on the World Heritage List and the responsibilities after the inclusion， and policies， strategies， measures， ways and modes to be adopted to promote the coordinated ecological and social development of world heritage sites. They put forward many innovative ideas. The Forum received more than 40 theses， which reflected the latest achievements in research on world heritage in Sichuan Province.