The International Union for Conservation of Nature has released a report that said the giant panda no longer features in the endangered list and has been classified as a vulnerable species, reported the Associated Press. According to the report, the population of the animal has gone up to 1,864 in 2014 from 1,596 in 2004 – a 16% rise – because of the work done by several conservation agencies that restored the animal's natural habitat.
IUCN Chairperson Dr Ronald Swaisgood told The Independent, “The current situation is that all the trends are positive. Panda numbers are increasing, occupied range is expanding, and available habitat is recovering.” However, the international group said that the predicted climate change may destroy more than 35% of the giant panda’s natural bamboo habitat in the next 80 years.
The World Wildlife Fund also hailed the report. The non-government organisation said the re-classification proves that conversation does work and that strict laws go a long way to protect endangered animals.
The Chinese government, however, said it will continue to treat the giant panda as an endangered species. China’s State Forestry Administration said the animal still faces disappearing risk. The forestry administration said, “If we downgrade their conservation status, or neglect or relax our conservation work, the populations and habitats of giant pandas could still suffer irreversible loss and our achievements would be quickly lost.”
In the 1980s, the population count of the giant panda was as low as 1,000 because of poaching and largescale deforestation. It was then that the Chinese government and WWF took note of the condition and set up the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan province to help keep the species alive.
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