CHINA Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas

Consisting of eight geographical clusters of protected areas within the boundaries of the Three Parallel Rivers National Park, in the mountainous northwest of Yunnan Province, the 1.7-million-hectare site features sections of the upper reaches of three of the great rivers of Asia: The Yangtze (Jinsha), Mekong and Salween run roughly parallel, north to south, through steep gorges which, in places, are 3,000 meters deep and are bordered by glaciated peaks more than 6,000 meters high.

The property spans a large portion of the Hengduan Mountains, which is the major arc curving into Indochina from the eastern end of the Himalayas. Being in the convergent regions of the world’s three major biogeographic realms, the area is an epicenter of Chinese biodiversity. It may also harbor the richest biodiversity among the temperate areas of the world.

The natural serial land consisting of 15 protected areas is grouped into eight clusters. It contains an outstanding diversity of landscapes, such as deep-incised river gorges, luxuriant forests, towering snow-clad mountains, glaciers, alpine karst, reddish sandstone landforms (Danxia), lakes and meadows over vast vistas.

The 15 different protected areas that make up the region all have a range of different legal conservation designations, including national and provincial-level nature reserves and national scenic areas, and thus are subject to different regulations. The coordinating and management body for the areas is the Yunnan Three Parallel Rivers Management Bureau, which has offices in Diqing, Nujiang and Lijiang prefectures, as well as representative offices and stations in more than 20 counties.