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Census Finds More Giant Pandas in the Wild
June 2004
China's forests are home to 1,590 giant pandas, 40 percent more than previously thought, a Chinese government survey shows. This is good news for a species that topped China's list of rare animals under special protection in 1962 and had environmentalists predicting its disappearance from the wild just 15 years ago.
Results of the four-year study of giant pandas and their habitat, conducted jointly by the State Forestry Administration of China and the World Wildlife Fund, were released in June 2004.
This is only the third census to date—the last two were completed in the 1970s and 1980s—and is by far the most comprehensive. Launched in 2000, it covered a total of nearly 23,000 square kilometers (8,880 square miles) in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces—the entire extent of the giant panda's range.
The last survey found between 1,000 and 1,100 animals in the wild, but researchers caution that the apparent rise in the panda population may be a result of improved survey techniques and increased thoroughness rather than an actual recovery in numbers.
Instead of extrapolating numbers of pandas from selective habitat counts as in past surveys, this study attempted to cover all remaining wild panda habitat. With the help of sophisticated computer and satellite technologies, pandas were tracked through their droppings, and density and distribution were mapped.
"This survey gives us the most accurate snapshot of pandas in the wild that we've ever had—their numbers, the state of their habitat, the threats to their survival," said Karen Baragona, head of the World Wildlife Fund's panda program in a statement.
Increased numbers are encouraging, but pandas aren't out of the woods yet. They are still gravely threatened by human disturbance, poachers, and fractured habitats caused by deforestation.
"The good news from the survey is there are hundreds more pandas than we previously knew existed in the wild and we found pandas living in areas we didn't know had any. But the survey reaffirmed our concerns that panda habitat is very fragmented and we have to ensure populations are reconnected with one another," said Baragona.
Reconnecting splintered patches of panda habitat is one of the biggest current challenges, but the results of panda surveys help determine which areas need work and where new nature reserves should be established. China is already making good use of this information. There are now more than 40 nature reserves protecting panda habitat compared to 13 when the last panda survey took place.
China's State Forestry Administration announced some additional good news. According to a recent inventory, about 40 percent of natural wetlands in the country, the main habitats of 300 key species of wild fauna and 130 species of wild flora, are presently protected in 353 nature reserves. And in order to accelerate the development of conservation efforts, the Chinese Government has implemented a National Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserves Development Program.
Program goals to be completed by 2010 include: raising the number of nature reserves to 1,800 up from 1,538 (this would encompass about 16 percent of the country's land), and the implementation of 15 rescue projects for species such as the giant panda, golden-haired monkey, Asian elephant, Chinese alligator, musk deer, and the Tibetan antelope. The government also plans to establish a conservation network capable of protecting the main habitat of 90 percent of the priority wild fauna and flora species and 90 percent of typical ecosystems.
Source: World Wildlife Fund, U.S.
