Final Report - Asian Development Bank

TA 4721-PRC: Preparing the Shaanxi-Qinling Mountains Integrated Ecosystem Management Project
Final Report Appendix 5
142. In late 2002, the Shaanxi provincial government gazetted five new panda reserves and five
panda corridors, increasing protected areas by 130,000 hectares. The five new giant panda reserves
are Motianling Reserve (8,520 ha), Ningqiang Qingmu Chuan Reserve (10,200 ha), Guanyinshan
Reserve (13,534 ha), Sangyuan Reserve (13,805.7 ha) and Ningshaan Reserve (26,732 ha).
143. WWF undertook community activities in Changqing Nature Reserve. These included raising
salmon as an alternative livelihood, installing fuel-efficient stoves, supporting village infirmaries and
providing micro-credit. These activities increased public awareness of conservation and helped
restructure local economies after logging was banned in 1998. The conservation focus also helped
reduce illegal logging and poaching. WWF now aims to extend these activities to other areas of the
Qinling.
144. The Houzhenzi Forest Plantation formally established a wildlife patrol in September 2002.
Supported by WWF, the 30-member team protects and monitors 51,167 ha on the north slope of the
Qinling, a natural habitat of giant panda.
145. To avoid ecological degradation caused by uncontrolled tourism, WWF, Xi'an Municipality
and Zhouzhi County government are working to integrate biodiversity conservation and tourism in the
southern Taibaishan area. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in June 2002.
146. Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. and a Belgian zoo jointly invested $500,000 for captive panda
conservation in Shaanxi. According to the Shaanxi Forestry Department, this is the largest nongovernmental
investment they have ever received for wildlife conservation.
147. The WWF Panda Project is funded mainly by WWF Netherlands and cooperators include:
Shaanxi Forestry Department, Xi’an Tourism Administration, Xi’an University of Architecture and
Technology, Zhouzhi County Government, Zhouzhi County Tourism Administration, Houzhenzi
Township Government, Houzhenzi Forest Farm, Laocheng Reserve, Taibaishan National Nature
Reserve, Foping National Nature Reserve, Changqing National Nature Reserve, Tourism Research
Center, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, The International Cooperation & Communication
Center of Forestry Economics, and Beijing Forestry University.
i. Giant Panda Corridors
148. WWF and Shaanxi Forestry Department (SFD) cooperated to create panda corridors to
reduce habitat fragmentation in the Qinling. This was achieved in conjunction with the Natural Forest
Protection Program (NFPP), the 1998 program under which China banned logging in natural forests 34 .
NFPP is implemented nationally by SFA and the forestry departments in each province.
149. Corridor locations were chosen to include 65,369 ha of otherwise unprotected giant panda
habitat. Corridor locations were selected based on two surveys covering 120,000 ha: the Third
National Survey Report on Giant Panda in China 35 , and a subsequent three-month survey organized
by the NFPP office in Shaanxi. Five ecological corridors were selected at: Houzhenzi of Zhouzi
County, Dashuping of Taibai Forest Bureau, Erlangba of Taibai County, Jiuchihe of Yang County, and
Caiziping of Ningxi Forest Bureau.
150. Establishment of corridors included demarcation, forest management and protection,
reforestation, forest fire management, tunnel construction, community development, and research and
monitoring. The work was planned to be completed in 2005. In each corridor, a core zone and a
buffer zone were demarcated based on the geographic location of the corridor and the frequency of
panda movements.
34 For detailed description see Xu Jintao, E. Katsigris and T. A. White. 2001. Implementing the Natural Forest
Protection Program and the Sloping Land Conversion Program: Lessons and Policy Recommendations.
CCICED Task Force on Forests and Grasslands. China Forestry Publishing House, Beijing, 98p.
35 SFA. 2006. Third National Survey Report on Giant Panda in China. Science Press, Beijing, 355p.
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