Libo Cone Karst Nominated Site of South China Karst application
for World Natural Heritage lies in Libo County, South Guizhou Buyi
and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, and has a mean
altitude of 747m ranging from 385 to 1109m.
It is a typical site of?cone karst on the transitional zone
between Guizhou plateau and Guangxi lowland, outstanding for their
full spectra of gradual change from plateau karst to the lowland
karst. The cone karst landscape supports immense biodiversity and
this special karst forest ecosystem is the habitat of many endemic
species and endangered fauna.
The nominated sites, where 90 percent of their populations are
minorities, are rich in culture. The exotic local minority culture
is the colorful and unique ethnic groups of Shui, Yao, Buyi, etc.
The delimitation of boundary for the Libo Karst Nominated Sites
mainly accords to the integrality of cone karst geomorphology
development and distribution, karst forest ecosystem and habitat of
rare and endangered species. The boundary keeps coherence with the
boundary of Maolan National Nature Reserve and Daqikong and
Xiaoqikong Spots in Libo Zhangjiang National Scenic Area.
The Libo Karst comprises core area of 29,518 hectares and buffer
zones of 43.498 hectares. The core area of the Maolan National
Nature Reserve nominated site covers 21,684 ha. taking up 73.46
percent of the cone area of the Libo nominated sites.
The criteria satisfied for the World Natural Heritage is as
below:
Be outstanding examples representing major stages of the earth
evolutionary history, including the records of life, significant
on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or
significant geomorphic or physiographic features;
Be outstanding examples representing significant on-going
ecological and biological processes in the evolution and
development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine
ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;
Contain the most important and significant natural habitats for
in-situ conservation of biological diversity including those
containing threatened species of outstanding universal
value?from the point of view of science or conservation.
(China.org.cn)