The pandas, however, will remain listed as “vulnerable” on the IUCN’s “Red List”, which classifies species based on population sizes and threats they are facing.
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Despite a 17 percent increase in giant panda populations in China between 2004 and 2014, the SFA warned that urgent issues like threatened habitats, a narrow gene pool and continued vulnerability to climate change and humans still require attention. The giant panda become endangered species in 1990.
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. The new designation was announced over the weekend by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an environmental organization that keeps track of the conservation status of plants and animals, according to The New York Times.
That means the panda population is projected to decline, and any gains realized to date could be reversed, said Carlo Rondinini, mammal assessment coordinator at the Sapienza University of Rome.
“The Chinese have done a great job in investing in panda habitats, expanding and setting up new reserves”, said Ginette Hemley, senior vice president at the World Wildlife Fund. “The recovery of the Panda shows that when science, political will and engagement of local communities come together, we can save wildlife and also improve biodiversity”. The eastern gorilla is now listed as critically endangered, just one step away from extinction, due primarily to poaching.
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Overall, the IUCN Red List, which gets upgrade after every four years, is now includes more than 8,000 species of which a staggering 24,000 are critically endangered. The second subspecies, the Mountain Gorilla, is actually on the rebound, with its population numbers actually increasing to 880, the ICUN reported in a press release. One subspecies Grauer’s gorilla has lost nearly 80 percent of its population in past two decades and their numbers have dropped drastically from 16,900 individuals in 1994 to just 3,800 individuals in 2015 while the other subspecies only has around 880 individuals.
