Scenery at Shennongjia, a forest area in Hubei province, which was recently listed as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage.[Photo/Xinhua]

In 2015, China's previous World Natural Heritage sites received 180 million visitors, took in 7 billion yuan ($1.04 billion) in revenue and offered 90,000 job opportunities to local communities, which is a crucial way to develop the economy for some poverty-stricken areas, he said.

"But, reasonable plans and sound rules have to be made before development," Zhang said.

China now has 11 World Natural Heritage Sites, second in the world after Australia, and four mixed cultural and natural sites.