Biodiversity protection focus of overall development plan

Editor's note: China will better protect biodiversity by pursuing high-quality, green development, according to an official document released after conclusion of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Communist Party of China Central Committee late last month. Three environmental experts explain how China aims to achieve its green goals. Excerpts follow:

Panda conservation protects biodiversity

We have reconstructed a demographic history of giant pandas, which shows two expansions in their numbers, two bottlenecks and two divergences. Whereas global changes in climate were the primary cause of fluctuations in their number for millions of years, the divergences and serious decline in their number in recent years can be attributed to human activities.

To address these problems, the Chinese government has implemented laws and the Nature Reserve Management Regulations. In 1988, the government enacted the Wildlife Protection Law to protect endangered animals. Since then, poaching has been banned and poachers have received severe punishments. Similarly, nationwide measures or related initiatives have been taken to protect the giant pandas, including the panda habitat protection project, panda nature reserve network, natural forest protection project, and the "Grain for Green Project".

These endeavors have yielded significant results: 67 giant panda nature reserves have been established covering about 54 percent of panda habitat and comprising more than 66 percent of the giant pandas in the wild. Also, the fourth national survey showed an increase in giant panda number and expansion in their habitat. Recently, the Giant Panda National Park has been established and this will put the giant panda conservation to a new height.

In the last decade, the State Forestry Administration has, under the panda reintroduction project, translocated or reintroduced more than 10 giant pandas to the wild－one of which, Luxin, has even produced offspring. Although the panda reintroduction program is a long-term project and faces many challenges, it has been progressing well, and will hopefully save small, isolated group of pandas or re-establish new panda colonies. In fact, the peer-reviewed Science journal has called the project "Hope for Wild Pandas".

Another way to save small, isolated small groups would be to build habitat corridors to facilitate the migration and dispersal of giant pandas and thus increase their genetic diversity. Apart from increasing their number through reintroduction, the habitat corridors will also connect isolated habitat patches and increase the chances of survival of isolated panda groups by increasing the gene flow. Several corridors are being created or planned, including the Nibashan Corridor in Daxiangling Mountains, and the Huangtuliang and Tudiling corridors in Minshan Mountains, all in Sichuan, and they are expected to play pivotal roles in the conservation of small, isolated panda groups.

Scientific research is key to safeguard biodiversity, and studies show pandas play a vital role in biodiversity conservation. Many claim the giant pandas have reached their evolutionary cul-de-sac, or dead-end, because of their specialized bamboo diet, phylogenetic changes in body size, small number, low genetic diversity, and low reproductive rate. But our studies do not support this. First, thanks to their bamboo diet, giant pandas have evolved morphologically (pseudo-thumbs), behaviorally (optimal foraging strategies), physiologically (low metabolism), genetically/genomically (pseudogenization in umami receptor gene) and meta-genomically (unique microbiome).

Second, giant pandas still have high genetic diversity and evolutionary potential.

And third, the plentiful bamboo resources in panda habitats should not be a limiting factor for expansion in their number.

Therefore, the giant panda is not a "relic species" contrary to the pessimistic perception among some people and scientific groups.

Moreover, investment in panda conservation can be beneficial for not only for giant pandas but also human and other species. Studies indicate the estimated ecosystem service value from pandas and their reserves was between $2.6-6.9 billion in 2010. Protecting the panda as an umbrella species and the habitat that supports it yields significant societal benefits, about 10-27 times the cost of maintaining the current panda reserves.

We hope policymakers and society will take note of the facts and support investment in panda conservation. Science-based practical conservation measures and the corresponding achievements paint a bright future for the pandas, and make panda conservation a success story.

Wei Fuwen, a professor at Chinese Academy of Sciences and a senior fellow at The Third World Academy of Sciences