World Heritage status has proved to be both bitter and sweet for indigenous residents living in the stone forest reserve in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

UNESCO on Wednesday added three clusters of karst landscape in south China to its World Heritage list. The stone forests in Shilin were one of those clusters.

One of the conditions for inclusion on the UNESCO list requires the local government to ban all man-made structures within the 120 sq km core of the 350 sq km reserve, said Li Zhengping, director of the reserve administration.

"All structures will be dismantled and people moved out by 2008," Pu Guoliang, head of Wukeshu Village in the reserve, said as he pointed at the rows of houses to be destroyed.

The village, one of four to be relocated, is home to about 200 households of the Yi minority group.

The stone forest, with its distinctive karsts, has long been a popular tourist attraction.

Most of the villagers earn a living providing services and selling souvenirs to visitors.

"Indeed, our life has gradually improved as the reserve has become more prosperous," Pu said.

"We are happy because more tourists will come here as a result of the area's new designation."

The village's annual per-household income was about 20,000 yuan ($2,600) last year.

But many villagers are worried that they will lose their niche after the evacuation, with some even blaming Pu for betraying their interests. Many of them will be leaving homes in which their families have lived for generations.

Meanwhile, the practice of collecting stones to sell as souvenirs has been banned, and most of the village's farmland is now under protection, which means animal husbandry is no longer permitted.

"Many of my friends are worried that they can no longer sell things within the reserve," said Peng Jinyu, a local guide.

However, Liu Wenwei, Party secretary of Shilin, said the difficulties would be "short-term".

The county plans to allot 100 million yuan (US$13.13 million) to build a cultural village near the buffer zone surrounding the reserve to accommodate the residents from the core area.

The cultural village will also be developed into a tourism destination.

(China Daily June 29, 2007)