Pu'er City serves as the leader and practitioner during the application process. Since the start of the application in June 2011, the city has organized both international and domestic heritage experts to go on survey trips to the Ancient Tea Garden on the Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er while providing them with abundant fundamental researches.

Meanwhile, the city has also worked out a three-step plan: firstly, apply for the Key Cultural Relic Unit under State Protection; secondly, apply for the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS); thirdly, apply for the World Cultural Heritage. The city has invited an expert team from the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences of Peking University in order to produce professional documents and reports on the application of World Cultural Heritage, as well as the protection and management plan of the Ancient Tea Garden on the Jingmai Mountain, while providing abundant funds to renovate the environment in order to facilitate the application.