Giant panda conservation efforts lead to population growth

The population of wild giant pandas has increased from around 1,100 in the 1980s to nearly 1,900 as of last year. China's efforts in conserving its population of giant pandas resulted in the species being downgraded by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature from endangered to vulnerable in 2016.

The nation's protected area for giant panda habitats has expanded from 1.39 million hectares in the 1980s to 2.58 million hectares.

The establishment of the Giant Panda National Park in 2021, spanning the provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu, ensures the protection of some 70 percent of the wild habitat of giant pandas. Thanks to careful monitoring, the number of giant pandas captured on camera and encountered in the wild has increased, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

While giant panda lovers celebrate the continuous growth in population of China's national treasure, concerns were raised in an article by the New York Times this month. Citing expert comments from 2006 and 2010, it said that the methods used by China to survey the wild panda population were "not ideal" and that "China keeps its methodology a secret".

There have been four giant panda censuses since the 1970s, with the most recent completed in 2015, a full five years later than the sources cited by the NYT.