FWD: (CN) China's Giant Pandas Face Relentless Human Threats

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Reuters

Apr 8 2001 9:18AM

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's giant panda may be able to escape

extinction, experts say, despite the human onslaught on their

mountainous habitat and lack of data on how many of the beloved

black-and-white creatures remain in the wild.

" If you look at the big picture, this is a time for guarded optimism,

more so than ever before, about the giant panda's future, " said Karen

Baragona, the World Wildlife Fund's giant panda conservation program

manager.

A study released last Thursday by researchers at Michigan State

University and collaborators in China cast doubt on the effectiveness

of efforts to protect the endangered giant pandas, detailing the

ongoing destruction of prime habitat in Wolong Nature Reserve. It is

the largest protected area for the conservation of the giant panda,

whose range now consists of only half a dozen mountain ranges in

China.

But the study found that the human population within the reserve had

grown by 70 percent since Wolong was created in 1975, and that

downing of trees for fuel wood, farming, tourism and other human

activities had eradicated prime panda habitat.

" It's a dire situation, but I think this is a major opportunity to be

involved with pandas and try to work with the Chinese in getting some

things turned around, " said Don Lindberg, who heads the giant panda

team at the San Diego Zoo. " We always have to hope. None of us will

settle for extinction of the wild population and just a few living in

zoos left for future generations. That is completely unacceptable. "

Baragona said she has reason to be hopeful, noting that the number of

reserves for pandas has more than doubled since 1993, currently

standing at 32. That is " a very significant milestone for the Chinese

government, " she said.

Baragona also said that since 1998 there has been a complete

moratorium on commercial logging in the entire range of the giant

panda, which provides the opportunity to protect and restore panda

habitat even outside the reserves. She said more technical and

financial support than ever before is flowing into China from

international organizations and zoos.

" THINGS ARE IMPROVING "

" Efforts are intensifying. The Chinese government has elevated giant

panda conservation to a higher level than ever before. I think

conservationists are working harder than ever before. The quality of

reserve management is improving. Things won't just stay the same.

Things are improving, " she said.

Giant pandas are perhaps the most unusual of the world's eight

species of bears. Their diet consists almost entirely of various

bamboo species found in high-mountain areas.

No precise numbers exist for how many live in the wild. The last

official estimate was made in the 1980s, placing the population at

somewhere around 1,000. Chinese survey teams have been in the field

since 1999 carrying out a panda census. Results are due in the middle

of next year, the WWF said.

" There may be more pandas than we've been led to believe, " Lindberg

said. " On the other hand, the worry is that there will be

substantially fewer when the census numbers come out next year. "

International groups such as the WWF and zoos around the world are

helping to bankroll conservation efforts in China. Baragona said the

WWF provides about $1 million in support annually in the form of

training and support in the reserves.

Zoos with pandas on loan from China are chipping in. Lindberg said

his zoo gives China $1 million annually for two adult pandas and

$600,000 annually for a cub born a year and a half ago, with the

money earmarked for panda conservation. Zoos in Washington and

Atlanta have similar arrangements.

GOOD INTENTIONS, LOUSY RESULTS

Jianguo Liu, who led the Michigan State study, said good intentions

on the part of the Chinese government have not always yielded good

results.

" Everybody loves pandas, " Liu said. " To be fair, the government has

spent a lot of time, a lot of attention and a lot of money to protect

the habitat for the pandas. But even so, the results are not

exciting. So there are some ways that we could do better. "

For example, he said the government could reverse the growing human

population within the reserves by providing better educational

opportunities, allowing young people to attend technical schools and

colleges and obtain jobs outside the reserve.

Liu said that if only 22 percent of the reserve's young people

relocated as a result of attending college, getting married or taking

outside jobs, the human population in the Wolong reserve would be

reduced from 4,260 now to about 700 by the year 2047, and the giant

panda habitat would recover and increase by 7 percent.

 

RTR/SCIENCE-ENVIRONMENT-PANDAS-DC/

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