The World Wildlife Fund, whose logo is a giant panda, praised the news as a great moment for conservationists.
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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 September 4.
In a statement to The Associated Press, China’s State Forestry Administration said Monday that it disputed the classification change because pandas’ natural habitats have been splintered by natural and human causes. It said the wild panda population jumped to 1,864 in 2014 from 1,596 in 2004, the result of work by Chinese agencies to enforce poaching bans and expand forest reserves.
“Illegal hunting and habitat loss are still major threats driving many mammal species towards extinction”, said Carlo Rondinini, Coordinator of the mammal assessment at Sapienza University of Rome “We have now reassessed almost half of all mammals”.
To continue assisting the vulnerable animal, especially as climate change threatens the panda’s bamboo habitat, the IUCN says it’s critical that forests in China are protected.
But China has been aware of their decline since the 1960s, when the first panda reserves were established, according to the WWF. The giant panda is no longer listed as endangered!
The IUCN Red List mentions 82,954 flora and faunae species.
The giant panda has been endangered since 1990, and the IUCN points to forest protection and reforestation as the main reason for its comeback. The other subspecies, the mountain gorilla, is faring slightly better. In 1965 they listed the Giant Panda as “Very rare but believed to be stable or increasing”.
“To see the Eastern Gorilla – one of our closest cousins – slide towards extinction is truly distressing”, said IUCN Director General Inger Andersen.
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The reclassification of central Africa’s Eastern Gorilla as critically endangered follows a population decline of more than 70% in the last two decades, leaving its population below 5,000. The institution added that national surveys serve as evidence of successful conservation.
