The panda bear is a species that is currently highly valued and protected. Unfortunately, this was not always the case and this situation led them to almost become extinct. But the efforts for its conservation have borne fruit and today the panda bear is no longer an endangered species and has become a vulnerable species. This was announced by the Chinese government through the Department of Ecological Protection of the Ministry of Environment Ecology.
The fact that pandas are a very localized species that can only be found in , puts them at a disadvantage for survival. In the past, giant pandas occupied the entire south and east of the Asian giant. However, the growth of cities and their habitat put this species of mammal in danger of extinction. But for years, the Chinese government has invested great efforts to recover its endemic species and national icon.
Currently, the efforts have borne fruit and have managed to remove pandas from the list of endangered species. The number of wild giant pandas has risen to 1,800 individuals, going from endangered to vulnerable. This was explained by Cui Shuhong, director of China’s Ecological Protection Department. He also pointed out that “the living conditions of some rare species have been improved,” such as pandas, Tibetan antelopes and Father David’s deer, a species native to China. Likewise, he announced that pandas are not the only ones that have increased their populations, there has also been an increase in tigers, Siberian leopards and Japanese ibis. Species that are also in danger of extinction.
What does ‘species in a vulnerable state’ mean?
According to the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), there are different levels that catalog the status of species according to the health of their populations in the wild. According to this classification, there are three large categories: Low risk, threatened and extinct. But in turn, these are subdivided into other subcategories depending on the conditions of the species:
- Low risk
- Minor concern
- almost threatened
- Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically endangered
- Extinct
- Extinct in the wild
- Extinct
Therefore, although the giant panda bear has moved out of the “endangered” status and into vulnerable status, it is still among the threatened species. So conservation efforts must continue until they finally reach a healthy wild state to be outside of this categorization.