The Landscape Patterns of the Giant Panda Protection Area in Sichuan Province and Their Impact on Giant Pandas

Qing Qin, Yuan Huang, Jingru Liu, Dai Chen, Ling Zhang, Jian Qiu, Hongli Tan and Yali Wen
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Qing Qin: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Yuan Huang: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Jingru Liu: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Dai Chen: Foreign Cooperation Project Center, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Beijing 100714, China
Ling Zhang: China Wildlife Conservation Association, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Beijing 100714, China
Jian Qiu: China Giant Panda Conservation Research Center, Chengdu 625000, China
Hongli Tan: Forest and Grassland Pest Control Station, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Shenyang 110034, China
Yali Wen: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 21, 1-15

Abstract: As the flagship species of biodiversity conservation in China, the giant panda has significant ecological protection value and plays an important demonstrative role for conservation. Sichuan Province has the largest area of giant panda habitat, making its protected areas the most important for the conservation of this species. However, the habitats of the giant panda are shrinking due to human disturbance through land encroachment for agriculture and other forms of resource exploitation. Reducing these pressures requires assessing current land use and the causes of fragmenting giant panda habitats. This paper reports on changes in land-use patterns and socio-economic development in typical counties with giant panda habitats in Sichuan in 2003 and 2015, with a focus on giant panda protection areas and human pressures in the surrounding lands. We found that road construction, industrial infrastructure, and other forms of economic development have led to increases in human populations and fragmentation of the giant panda habitats, such that that the population of this species has been significantly reduced in some counties. Improving the protection of giant panda requires designing regional economic development activities based on scientific principles to provide benefits to both the local people and the giant pandas. For example, when making land use plans, the local government should consider the impact of the development of the communities surrounding the giant panda areas on the giant pandas’ habitat.

Keywords: giant panda; land use and cover change (LUCC); landscape pattern; development; protected area (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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