Bears bounce back
Last week, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published its Red List of Threatened Species in which it declared the giant panda has been downgraded from "endangered" to "vulnerable."
Experts say this is acknowledgement of Chinese efforts to protect the giant panda, which have involved both launching projects to maintain its habitat and breeding the animals in captivity. However, there are still some issues that need to be addressed in the future.
The IUCN puts all species in seven categories from high to low risk, from "extinct" to "least concern." The organization analyzes data such as population size and the status of a species' habitat, in order to assess their risk level.
The IUCN's list said the giant panda was an at risk species in investigations from 1965 to 1988. The giant panda officially became an endangered species in 1990.
This time, using data collected by the Chinese authorities in 2014's fourth nationwide panda census which reported that there were 1,864 wild pandas, an increase of 17 percent over 2005, the IUCN downgraded the giant panda's risk status.
However, China's top forestry authority claimed Monday last week that the giant panda is still "endangered."
"It is premature to downgrade the panda's conservation status," the State Forestry Administration said in a statement.
The statement also pointed out that pandas are still facing a survival crisis in some regions. The authorities have emphasized that panda conservation efforts must continue to resolve issues related to the animal's shrinking habitats, narrow gene pool and vulnerability to climate change and poor human management.
Wan Hui, director of the World Wildlife Federation (WWF)'s Xi'an Office, said the downgrade is an acknowledgement of work in panda protection by the government and organizations involved, but it doesn't mean that efforts will be lessened, because the giant panda is still "vulnerable."
In the past decades, the Chinese government, along with organizations such as the WWF and local groups, has invested a lot of effort in both protecting giant panda habitats, as well as increasing its population through breeding in captivity.
In the past decades, the Chinese government has invested a lot of effort into saving the giant panda, both in protecting its natural habitat and in raising the species in breeding centers.
When people talk about giant panda protection, most think about pandas bred in confinement in zoos or breeding centers.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Chengdu to see the animals, and the giant panda is an important publicity and diplomacy tool of the Chinese government.
The pandas are bred by scientists and some of the bears later go through a course that tries to prepare them for life in the wild - but only a few of the pampered animals ever get tough enough to be set free.
Few people think about the fact that the most important thing about protecting the species is to also protect its natural habitat.
In the past few decades, the Chinese government, along with organizations such as the WWF and local groups, have put a lot of emphasis on protecting the giant panda's habitat.
In the 1970s, the government designated several areas, including vast tracts of mountainous regions in West China's Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces as protection zones and national parks. The aim was to protect the natural habitat in these areas, not only for the giant pandas, but also for other wild species that reside there.
Foping National Protection Zone, situated in Hanzhong, Shaanxi Province, was established in 1978 and through more than 30 years of careful conservation work, the zone has seen an increase in its panda population from 45 to 70. The workers and even nearby villagers occasionally spot wild giant pandas in the area, sometimes just grazing, sometimes drinking water or climbing trees.
