UNESCO on Friday declared the Hoh Xil nature reserve in China's Qinghai Province a natural heritage site in a controversial decision challenged by pro-Tibet activists.

The Hoh Xil nature reserve, located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, is home to over 200 animal species. More than 20 of them are state-protected, including the Tibetan antelope.

It is China's largest world natural heritage site, covering an area of 45,000 square kilometres (17,400 square miles).

"Just inscribed as @UNESCO #WorldHeritage Site: Qinghai Hoh Xil, #China," the UN's cultural arm tweeted during its World Heritage Committee meeting in Krakow.

A handful of pro-Tibet activists protested earlier this week while the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) advocacy group warned that giving Hoh Xil heritage status could have consequences for Tibet.

"The Hoh Xil nature reserve on the Tibetan plateau... is in the middle of three major nature reserves that increasingly exclude normal Tibetan land use such as nomadic herding, situate the state as the sole agency of control, and encourage mass tourism," the ICT said in a statement Thursday.

"The inscription of Hoh Xil without further detailed assessment would effectively signify endorsement from the international cultural heritage body of China's ambitious policies including the displacement of Tibetan nomads from their land," the group added.

China has invested billions of dollars into resettling Tibetan herders, who have for centuries led a nomadic life, moving regularly to seek fresh grazing for their animals.

Beijing says the policy is aimed at improving nomads' living standards, creating markets for their livestock and the traditional herbal medicines they gather as well as curbing rampant environmental degradation on the roof of the world.

But while some Tibetans welcome the changes, many worry about the disappearance of a lifestyle that has endured for hundreds of years, and see the resettlements as part of a broader erosion of Tibetan culture in China.

China's representative insisted at the UNESCO meeting Friday that Beijing would never engage in forced resettlement on the Hoh Xil reserve, according to the Polish news agency PAP.

source: AFP