Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape

Factors identified at the time of inscription in 2016:

• Management systems / Management Plan (Need to put all 38 rock art sites under the highest protection level; Lack of a conservation/consolidation programme for all the rock art sites)
• Management activities (Lack of monitoring systems, including a risk preparedness strategy addressing the risk of forest fire)
• Forestry / Wood production (Firewood collection)
• Surface water pollution (Use of fossil fuel for the operation of boats and other facilities in the surrounding villages)
• Land conversion; Crop production; Livestock farming / grazing of domesticated animals (Risk of the areas for farming growing beyond the present level)

In November 2017, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1508/documents/. The report presents the State Party’s progress with a number of conservation issues addressed by the Committee at the time of inscription, as follows:

• In addition to the Ningming Huashan Rock Art Site, the process of listing the 37 additional rock art sites located within the property as ‘National Priority Protected Sites’, the highest level of protection, has begun: relevant documents have recently been submitted for review by the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region’s Department of Culture, which will officially submit this nomination to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China at a future, unspecified date;
• Efforts have been made to promote investigations at the 37 additional rock art sites, and it is planned for these investigations to be completed by 2020. Heritage monitoring and the enforcement of environmental protection law at the rock art sites have been strengthened;
• The strengthening of forest fire prevention has been addressed by means of the “Scheme for Strengthening Afforestation and Forest Fire Prevention in Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape Heritage Zone” and the “Contingency Plan for Forest Fire,” along with (unspecified) improved work measures and educational activities;
• Additional efforts have been made to improve the enforcement of forest resource management, to conduct forest patrols, and to restrict firewood collection from the forest (although the means of achieving the latter are not specified);
• Under the “Scheme for Promoting Utilization of Green and Clean Energy in Heritage Zones,” adopted in 2016, it is planned to create a “green energy demonstration site” within the Huashan Rock Art heritage zones by 2020, employing solar-powered streetlights, water heaters and photovoltaics as well as underground methane pools, rural organic waste methane disposition, centralized biomass gasification, and Liquefied Natural Gas fuel for boats and other facilities;
• The areas allocated to farming are stable and no obvious increase or decrease in extent has occurred. Chongzuo City has taken steps to protect arable land and improve its quality through advanced technologies such as soil testing and formulated fertilization;
• In recent years, cultural heritage departments at all levels have strengthened the routine patrolling, protection and management of the rock art sites not included in the World Heritage property, including the initiation of the nomination of the seventh batch of Protected Sites of the Autonomous Region by the government of Guangxi Zhuang in 2017.

The State Party has made progress regarding most of the recommendations made by the Committee at the time of inscription in 2016. It has begun the process of placing all 38 rock art sites under the highest protection level; taken first steps towards a conservation/consolidation programme for all the rock art sites, with consequent monitoring systems; addressed the risk of forest fire; and has limited firewood collection from the forest as a means of protecting the environment of the rock art sites. The State Party has also given consideration to using solar heating and electric power instead of fossil fuel for the operation of boats and other facilities in the surrounding villages; investigated whether any changes have occurred in the amount of land devoted to farming; and investigated whether any rock art sites within the World Heritage property are being neglected. However, the State Party has not fully reported on the Committee’s recommendation to extend the Management Plan to include a risk preparedness strategy.

The State Party has indicated that some presentation and green energy utilization projects are being planned and reviewed within the property and its buffer zones. No large-scale construction or development project has been implemented.

It is recommended that the Committee encourage the State Party to complete the ongoing process of listing all 38 rock art sites within the property as ‘National Priority Protected Sites’ as quickly as possible. The Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, including its authenticity and integrity, can be better sustained over the long term through the preparation and adoption of formal mechanisms. It is therefore recommended that the State Party finalize a formal conservation/consolidation programme for all the rock art sites with consequent monitoring systems; that it complete a formal risk preparedness strategy for inclusion within the Management Plan that addresses, inter alia, the risk of forest fire; that it adopt formal mechanisms to restrict firewood collection from the forest as a means of protecting the environment of the rock art sites; and that it also adopt formal mechanisms to restrict areas allocated to farming to the present level.

It is also recommended that the Committee encourage the State Party to keep it informed of the progress made with the creation of a “green energy demonstration site,” in particular regarding the implementation of environmentally sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel for the operation of boats and other facilities in the surrounding villages.

Finally, it is recommended that the Committee invite the State Party to inform it, through the World Heritage Centre, of any future plans for major restoration or new construction projects that may affect the OUV of the property, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, before making any decisions that would be difficult to reverse.