🐼 Giant pandas no longer endangered in the wild

After years of conservation efforts, Chinese officials have stated that the giant pandas aren’t endangered in the wild anymore. They are still vulnerable, with a population of 1800 in the wild, but this is a significant milestone for conservation efforts.

Due to the panda’s short breeding window, the species is extra difficult to repopulate. The success behind the project is due to large-scale conservation efforts, mainly focused on restoring and protecting the panda’s habitat - more precisely, bamboo forests. A panda's diet is made up of 99 percent bamboo, and without it, they would starve.

Already a year ago, the Union for Conservation of Nature voted to change the panda’s endangered classification, but China didn’t want to change its status just yet. The government was concerned that people would think the panda population was healthier than it actually was.

Cui Shuhong, head of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment’s Department of Nature and Ecology Conservation, explains at a news conference that the classification change “reflects their improved living conditions and China’s efforts in keeping their habitats integrated.”

🗳 Since democracy is crucial in a fact-based optimistic world... we remind our readers of the democratic status of the countries we write about:

China has a Global Freedom Score of 9 and has the status Not free.