Giant Pandas Not 'Endangered' Anymore, Conservation Group Says

(Beijing) – Giant pandas are no longer threatened with extinction after years of conservation efforts, an international environmental group said, but the Chinese government says it is "too early" to make such a call.

The status of the beloved bear was changed from "endangered" to "vulnerable" on the "red list" for endangered species maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature because the panda population has rebounded, the nonprofit said on Sept. 4.

The giant panda is considered a "national treasure" in China. Despite the growing panda population, mainly in captive breeding programs, the State Forestry Administration, which oversees animal conservation efforts in China, said that it was "too early" for the IUCN to downgrade the conservation status of the animal, official Xinhua News Agency reported on Sept. 5.

The change will lead to neglect of conservation work, and previous gains will quickly disappear, an official at the forestry administration warned.

The fourth national survey conducted by the State Forestry Administration from 2011 to 2014 estimated that there were 1,864 giant pandas as of the end of 2013, 268 more than a decade earlier.

Forests in the the southwestern part of China were the traditional home of the giant panda, but rapid habitat loss linked to human activity put the species at risk. Decades of conservation work by the Chinese government have brought its numbers back from the brink, the organization said.

"The improved status confirms that the Chinese government's efforts to conserve this species are effective," IUCN said.

However, climate change still threatens the species' survival. IUCN estimated that climate change will eliminate more than 35 percent of the bamboo habitats, which are home to the pandas, over the next 80 years, reversing the gains made during the last two decades.

The IUCN, based in Switzerland, publishes an annual list that accesses the conservation status of species and groups them into seven categories: extinct, extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, near-threatened and of least concern.

The organization has listed four of the six great apes, including the largest living primate — the eastern gorilla — as critically endangered in its latest report, and the animal was on the brink of extinction. Grauer's gorilla, one subspecies of eastern gorilla found mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has lost 77 percent of its population in the past two decades, declining from 16,900 in 1994 to just 3,800 in 2015, the IUCN said.

Contact reporter Chen Na (nachen@caixin.com); editor Poornima Weerasekara (poornima@caixin.com)