BEIJING, May 12 -- Cui Guangyi, deputy secretary of the Sichuan Government, issued a press release saying Sichuan's giant panda habitat has been officially nominated by the Chinese Government for world heritage status.

    The World Heritage Center of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is processing the application and will act on it during the 30th World Heritage Congress in July next year.

    The giant panda is an endangered species watched over anxiously by the whole world and is China's rare "living fossil" animal. Sichuan province is the major habitat of the giant pandas and is an important region that protects the pandas, sustaining a lush, vibrant and ecologically sound environment for these rare animals.

    (Source: Chinanews.cn)