Introduction
Objective
Current Status
Partners
Donor
Further information and photos
WWF staff

Introduction

Encompassing a total area of 52,000 km2, the Qinling Mountains are extremely biologically diverse. The area is home to a number of endangered species including the golden monkey, takin, crested ibis, golden eagle, and clouded leopard. It is one of the few remaining natural habitats where China's national symbol, the giant panda, lives. It is the natural division between northern and southern China in terms of geography and climate, and the only area that acts as a water catchment for the country's two most important rivers: the Yangtze and the Yellow rivers. It is also the only water source for Xi'an, China's ancient capital, which today has a population of over seven million.

Based on a national survey in the mid-1980s, approximately 1000 wild pandas were found in an estimated distribution area of around 13,000 km2. The Qinling mountain range in Shaanxi Province is the northernmost distribution area for the giant panda and is also one of the areas with the densest panda population. The Qinling giant panda population has been found mainly in the Foping, Yang County, Ningshan, Taibai and Chenggu areas of Qinling.

The Qinling panda population is an independent panda population with about 200-300 pandas. The population size is relatively small and it is distributed in a separate mountain range with little connection with others, which make the Qinling population very fragile. With the rapid development of China, human expansion and disturbances have become major threats to the animal. The pressure is expected to grow rapidly after the implementation of the Western China Development Program. If no immediate conservation measures are taken, the Qinling population may become on the verge of extinction.

The Qinling Panda Focal Project believes that a balanced future for both conservation and development depends on enterprises and investments. By mobilizing partners from the private sector to adopt a demonstration model, we will help to bring change to the mainstream. Therefore, while continuing effective cooperation with traditional partners, WWF hopes to bring a win-win solution to both conservation and economic development in the panda habitat.

Objective

WWF’s vision is that by 2012, the Qinling giant panda population will have increased by at least 10% and its protected habitats increased by at least 80%. These goals will be met by mobilizing non-conventional stakeholders to adopt and apply conservation and sustainable use approaches in their policies, decision-making, investments and consumption behavior.

Current status

WWF officially launched the Qinling Panda Focal Project in March 2002. The project contains three modules:

1. Habitat protection and the creation of five ecological corridors for the giant panda population in the Qinling mountain range
2. Cooperation between biodiversity conservation and tourism development in the Southern Taibaishan region of Zhouzhi in the Qinling mountain range
3. Sustainable community development for the whole Qinling giant panda range

In late 2002, the Shaanxi provincial government has officially sanctioned five new panda reserves and five panda corridors, increasing protected areas in Qinling by 130,000 hectares. The five new giant panda reserves are Motian Qinling Reserve (8,520 h), Ningqiang Qingmu Chuan Reserve (10,200 h), Guanyinshan Reserve (13,534 h), Sangyuan Reserve (13,805.7 h) and Ningshan Reserve (26,732 h).

WWF-supported conservation-based community activities were carried out in Changqing Nature Reserve in the Qinling mountains. These activities included cultivating salmon as an alternative livelihood, installing wood-saving stoves, supporting village infirmaries and providing small amounts of credit for community development. These practices have increased public awareness of conservation and participation and helped villagers restructure logging-based industries, which ceased operation after the 1998 logging ban. They have also decreased illegal logging and poaching considerably. The project now aims to magnify these activities to other areas of Qinling.

The Houzhenzi Forest Plantation, in the Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi province, formally established a wildlife patrolling team in September 2002. Supported by WWF, the 30-member team will protect and monitor 51,167 hectares of the northern side of the Qinling Mountains, one of the few remaining natural habitats of the giant panda.

To avoid potential ecological problems caused by random tourism development, WWF, Xi'an Municipality and the Zhouzhi County government are working together to develop a framework for integrating biodiversity conservation and tourism in the Southern Taibaishan Region of Shaanxi province. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in June 2002.

The project’s official launch in March 2002 attracted extensive media attention, including all the major TV and print agencies. China Central Television Station's most influential news program also reported on the launch. Because of the extensive media coverage, Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd., a Belgian company based in Xi’an, together with a Belgian zoo, invested USD 500,000 for captive panda conservation in Shaanxi. According to the Shaanxi Forestry Department, this is the largest non-governmental investment they have ever received for wildlife conservation.

Partners

Shaanxi Forestry Department
Xi’an Tourism Administration
Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology
Zhouzhi County Government
Zhouzhi County Tourism Administration
Houzhenzi Township Government
Houzhenzi Forest Farm
Laoxiancheng Reserve
Taibaishan National Nature Reserve
Foping National Nature Reserve
Changqing National Nature Reserve
Tourism Research Center
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
The International Cooperation & Communication Center of Forestry Economics, Beijing Forestry University

Donor

WWF Netherlands

Further information:

For more background information and photos of Qinling, see our Report from the Field.

WWF staff

WU Haohan
Wu Haohan joined WWF as the Protected Areas Program Officer in August 2000. He has worked as the Qinling Focal Project Leader since August 2001 and is responsible for the implementation of the Qinling Panda Focal Project. Before joining WWF, he worked as a consultant for the GEF/World Bank: Chinese Nature Reserves Management Project and Protected Areas Management Project from 1996 to 2000. He worked in the Wuyishan Biosphere Reserve after graduating from Northeast Forest University on Wildlife Management in 1985. He was supported by UNESCO in 1992 to study Rural and Land Ecology Survey in the ITC of the Netherlands. In 1998, he was also trained in Bradford University (UK) on Appraisal and Planning of Biodiversity Conservation Projects.

ZHANG Zhelin
Zhang Zhelin joined WWF as project associate for the Qinling Panda Focal Project in Sept. 2002 and is based in the Xi’an Field Office. She is mainly in charge of the Community-Based Anti-Poaching Module of the Focal Project and coordinates with the Shaanxi Forestry Department on issues related to the Panda Protection Network of Shaanxi. She worked in the Wildlife and Nature Reserve Administration Office of the Shaanxi Forestry Department since 1982. She was involved in GEF’s Qinling Nature Reserves Management for 10 years. She graduated from the Wildlife Resources College, Northeast Forestry University, and studied wildlife management as a visiting scholar in the Department of Biological Science, Simon Fraser University in Canada.

LIU Xiaohai
Liu Xiaohai joined WWF China as the Sustainable Tourism Module Manager of the Qinling Panda Focal Project in May 2002. His major responsibility is to manage tourism related conservation work. Prior to joining WWF, he worked in the Futures Group Europe China Representative Office as the operation officer of China-UK HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Project. His other experiences include working as the international trade assistant director for US Business Network, a Senior Consultant of the Hawaii Hemp Project China Program, and China Representative of the Organic Farming Program supported by Safari Seeds & Organic Inc. and OCIA (Organic Certification Inspection Association). He graduated from Xi’an Foreign Languages University.

LI Ning
Li Ning joined WWF as the Species and Protected Areas Program Associate in Dec. 1997. Her major responsibilities were to assist the program officer in managing the giant panda conservation projects as well as assisting conservation initiations in Tibet. In July 2001, she was appointed as the Communications Coordinator for the Species Program. Her major responsibilities include internal and external communications and networking on species issues, particularly of the giant panda. Prior to joining WWF, she worked as a part-time English teacher for two years and in a computer company for one year. She graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University with an M.A. in Applied Linguistics.