Decades of conservation efforts have paid off as the giant panda was upgraded from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
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The newspaper reports that the number of pand bears has risen by around 17 percent of the last ten years.
According to PBS, The World Wildlife Fund, whose logo is a giant panda, called the news a great moment for conservationists.
Data suggests that there are now around 2060 giant pandas in the wild, 1864 of which are adults. A subspecies Grauer’s gorilla moved to “critically endangered” status because of the extinction risk of its disappearing from the planet’s wildlife nature. This has lead to concerns that some species could soon become extinct, not least because they are only just starting to suffer the impact of environmental damage caused by global warming. “There is no justifiable reason to downgrade the listing from endangered to threatened”.
Previously the subject of laboriously unsuccessful breeding programmes, pandas have benefited from efforts by the Chinese government to protect forests.
The main population of Eastern gorillas, the biggest primates weighing up to about 200 kg (440 lb), tumbled to an estimated 3,800 animals in 2015 from 16,900 in 1994, according to the report issued at an IUCN congress in Hawaii.
The IUCN compiles its peer-reviewed Red List alongside partners such as universities and environmental groups within animals’ natural habitat.
The second subspecies, the mountain gorilla, which is found in the volcanic mountains which border Rwanda, Uganda and DRC and in a nearby area southwestern Uganda, has fared better and its numbers have increased to around 880 individuals.
The key threat to Grauer’s gorillas is hunting, even though killing or capture of great apes is illegal.
Of all the great ape species – the eastern gorilla, western gorilla, Bornean orangutan, Sumatran orangutan, chimpanzee and bonobo – only the chimpanzee and bonobo are not considered critically endangered.
“To see the eastern gorilla – one of our closest cousins – slide toward extinction is truly distressing”, Inger Andersen, IUCN director general, said in a statement.
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Conservation charity WWF, whose symbol is the giant panda, described the results for the animals as “hugely encouraging”. To protect this iconic species, it is critical that the effective forest protection measures are continued and that emerging threats are addressed. The IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Hawaiian Plant Specialist Group anticipates the remaining species to be assessed will also be highly threatened.
