New survey reveals nearly
1,600 giant pandas in the wild
June 10, 2004
People with way too much time on their hands spent the last four years counting the number of future dead pandas in the wilds of China...
Gland, Switzerland - Results from the most comprehensive survey of China’s giant panda population reveal that there are nearly 1,600 pandas in the wild, over 40 per cent more animals than previously thought to exist.
The last panda survey in the 1980s found around 1,100 giant pandas in the wild.
These findings come from a four-year-long study of pandas and their habitat carried out by the State Forestry Administration of China and WWF.
Unlike previous surveys which extrapolated numbers of pandas from selected parts of panda habitat, this one attempted to count every single panda through a combination of arduous fieldwork in dangerous terrain and sophisticated GPS technology. [red text added by the BMTG for emphasis to show the lengths people will go to provide meaningless information]
The survey found a larger panda population than previously known, and discovered
pandas living in regions not thought to have the species such as in the Liuba
and Ningqiang Counties.
WWF experts believe that the difference is mainly due to better counting than
a better environment for the giant panda. The survey actually pinpointed a
number of threats to the long-term survival of this endangered species, including
deforestation and continued poaching.
"Because of improved census methods, we have a more accurate count of
how many there are in the wild, where they are, and the state of the habitat
on which they depend", said James Harkness, Country Representative of
WWF China. "The results of the survey will be used to help ensure that
over the next few years we make even greater strides to protect this rare
and precious animal."
Throughout the survey, WWF provided financial and technical assistance to
China’s State Forestry Administration and helped develop the methodology
used to count the panda population.
More than 170 people worked in 54 counties in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu
provinces, covering an area of over 23,000 km2. They collected data on the
state of natural resources in panda habitats, as well as the socioeconomic
status of people living in the panda's range.
Results from the survey have helped WWF identify the Minshan mountain ranges
in Sichuan and the Qinling mountain range in Shaanxi as essential areas for
conservation work to protect the giant panda.
Over the coming years, WWF will focus on connecting protected areas for pandas
through reforestation as well as anti-poaching and wildlife monitoring activities.
The Shaanxi provincial government, in partnership with WWF, initiated the
creation of five new panda reserves and five forested “corridors”
that re-link key panda habitats in April last year.
Across China there are now 40 panda reserves – protected areas for
pandas – compared to 13 two decades ago.
"The release of this survey is important not only for pandas, or WWF-but
also for the more than 1.3 billion people of China", said Dr. Susan Lieberman,
Director of WWF's Global Species Programme. "The giant panda is a powerful
symbol of the very future of China - the need to balance human needs and nature
conservation."