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Training Conservationists

The future of giant pandas, like the future of all wildlife and wild lands in China, depends upon the continued development of a cadre of Chinese conservation biologists and leaders. These people will carry out their country’s conservation policies and inspire conservation actions and initiatives at local, provincial, and national levels. Without such dedicated, well-trained individuals in China, conservation will fail.

Helping to build China’s capacity for conservation—the ability of individuals and organizations to conduct the programs needed to save giant pandas and their habitat—is one of the most significant contributions the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park can make. In the next year we plan to offer the Conservation Biology and Wildlife Management training program to the personnel of three giant panda reserves in China: Qianfoshan Reserve, Yele Reserve, and Meigu-Dafengding Reserve These reserves were selected to receive part of our contribution to giant panda conservation in China. They are poorly developed and need attention at every level, from training for staff to building guard stations and posting boundaries. A priority will be surveying and monitoring in the three reserves to assess the current status of wildlife and then track how it is faring in the years to come. The people who will do this are the reserve staff: men and women at the front lines of the battle to save wildlife. The training we provide could help determine whether they win or lose.

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