The group’s Red List of Threatened Species tracks the global conservation status of the world’s species.
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The status update is good news for the animals, but it doesn’t mean that pandas are safe.
After decades of work, it is clear that only a holistic approach will be able to secure the long-term survival of China’s giant pandas and their unique habitat. The organization has observed increased forest cover in China, providing more potential habitat to giant pandas. This is an increase from the last census conducted in 2004, which found 1,596 pandas in the wild, according to the IUCN.
“Whereas the decision to downlist the giant panda to vulnerable is a positive sign confirming that the Chinese government’s efforts to conserve this species are effective”, the IUCN wrote, “it is critically important that these protective measures are continued, and that emerging threats are addressed”. Since that alarming census, poaching has been banned, panda nature reserves have been established, and partnerships between the Chinese government and zoos around the world have helped with breeding and research efforts.
“For over fifty years, the giant panda has been the globe’s most beloved conservation icon as well as the symbol of WWF”, said the general director of the WWF, Marco Lambertini. The IUCN says that in the next 80 years, climate change could destroy more than 35 percent of bamboo forests, where pandas live on a bamboo-only diet.
The news, however, is not so upbeat for the Eastern gorilla.
One of those subspecies, Grauer’s gorilla, lost 77 percent of its population since 1994, declining from 16,900 individuals to just 3,800 in 2015, the IUCN said. The second subspecies, the mountain gorilla, is faring better, increasing its number to around 880 individuals, reversing a decline that began in 1996. The chimpanzee and bonobo are considered endangered.
“This illegal hunting has been facilitated by a proliferation of firearms resulting from widespread insecurity in the region”, said the IUCN in a report on the animal.
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Grauer’s gorillas are the largest living primates, and often the targets of illegal hunting. Destruction of forest for timber, charcoal production and agriculture continues to threaten isolated gorilla populations in North Kivu and the Itombwe Massif. Articles featured include reporting on world news, politics, finance, health, entertainment and technology.
