New survey reveals nearly 1,600 giant pandas in the wild

June 10, 2004

Beijing, China - 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 percent 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, the global conservation organization.

The number of pandas in the wild has increased to 1,600. WWF-Canon / John MacKINNON

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. 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.

Focusing on the quality of panda habitat is the key to pandas’ long-term survival.

"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."

The current panda habitat. WWF’s work after the survey is to connect panda protected areas through ecological corridors and buffer zones.

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."

For further information:

Olivier van Bogaert, WWF International's Press Office, tel.: +41 22 364 9554 or +41 79 477 3572 (mobile) ovanbogaert@wwfint.org

Joanna Benn, WWF Species Programme, tel.: +41 22 364 9093 or +41 79 236 12 09, jbenn@wwfint.org

Li Ning, WWF-China, tel.: +86 10 6522 7100 ext. 223 or +86 13691 167986 (mobile) nli@wwfchina.org

NOTES TO EDITORS:

• 
  · With effective habitat protection within the Yangtze River Basin and commitment to sustainable development practices, WWF believes that giant panda populations can recover in the wild to secure levels. The Yangtze River Basin is the geographic and economic heart of China, and is one of the critical regions for biodiversity conservation in the world. Its diverse habitats contain many rare, endemic and endangered animal and plant species, the best known being the giant panda. Four hundred million people live within its catchment area, their ancestors having utilized the region's resources for millennia. Diverse economic benefits derive from the Yangtze Basin, including tourism, subsistence fisheries and agriculture, transport, hydropower, and water resources.
• · WWF was the first international conservation organization invited to work in China and has been working on giant panda conservation in China since 1980. Over the past two decades, WWF has been supporting projects in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces including research, monitoring, patrolling against poaching, and illegal logging as well as social development projects including eco tourism and training for local communities.
• · "Corridors" - zones that link the protected areas and allow fragmented populations of pandas to cross from one protected area to another - are important because human land use has restricted many populations of pandas to less than 50 individuals. Corridors can help prevent the threat of inbreeding.
• · The First National Panda Survey was carried out between 1974 and 1977 by China's Ministry of Forestry (now the State Forestry Administration) and provincial forestry departments. It yielded crucial population and distribution data for the giant panda, and indicated that there were between 1,050 and 1,100 giant pandas living in the wild in China.
• · The Second National Panda Survey was jointly conducted by WWF and the State Forestry Administration. It was carried out between 1985 and 1988, and indicated there were about 1,100 pandas left in the wild.
• · GPS definition - GPS stands for Global Positioning System. GPS was developed by the US to allow the military to accurately determine their precise location anywhere in the world. GPS uses a collection of 24 satellites positioned in orbit to allow a person who has the proper equipment to automatically have their position triangulated to determine their location. GPS equipment now comes in systems that can be hand-held.
• · Footage of pandas in the wild and the survey is held at WWF's archive World Images in London. Please contact world World.images@WORLD-television.com or call +44 207 3888 555
• · Photos can be obtained from FWulf@wwfint.org
• · On Internet: http://www.panda.org/species/panda, www.wwfchina.org/english