Exploring the Giant Panda National Park —— A Paradise for Harmonious Coexistence between Man and Nature
Poster design: Sun Yao, yangjin
Xinhua News Agency, Chengdu, May 24th Topic: Exploring the Giant Panda National Park-Building a Paradise for Harmonious Coexistence between Man and Nature.
Xinhua News Agency reporters Yang Sanjun, Zhang Hailei and Yu Li
This is a "panda ecological corridor", which spans Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces and is home to more than 80% of the wild giant pandas in China.
This is an ecological home protected by an umbrella. In addition to the giant panda, there are more than 8,000 kinds of wild animals and plants such as snow leopard, Sichuan golden monkey, green-tailed rainbow pheasant, crested ibis, Davidia involucrata and Taxus chinensis.
This is a classic successful case known as global wildlife protection. After several generations of scientific protection, the threatened degree of giant pandas has been reduced from "endangered" to "vulnerable".
All creatures, beauty and beauty are in common. In today’s Giant Panda National Park, a beautiful picture of harmonious coexistence between man and nature is slowly unfolding.
"Rebirth" of the Giant Panda Kingdom
The 93-year-old Hu Jinchu is known as the "panda expert", who witnessed the start and development of the panda protection in China.
Time goes back to the early 1970s. At that time, US President Nixon received two giant pandas during his visit to China, and a "panda fever" quickly set off around the world. As the hometown of giant pandas, China doesn’t know much about the distribution and quantity of its "national treasure".
Soon, Hu Jinchu was appointed to lead the first field investigation and study of giant pandas in China. With two legs and a telescope, the investigation team began to climb mountains and drill forests. After four and a half years of arduous field investigation, a report on the investigation of precious animal resources in Sichuan Province with more than 200,000 words was formed. In 1978, the world’s first giant panda field ecological observation station "Wuyi shed" was established in Wolong, Sichuan.
From field tracking research to artificial captive breeding, from wild release to habitat protection, from field monitoring to individual meticulous management, generations of researchers have contributed wisdom and youth to the cause of giant panda protection.
The results of the fourth national giant panda survey show that by the end of 2013, the number of giant pandas in the wild reached 1864. In 2016, IUCN announced that it would reduce the threat level of giant pandas from "endangered" to "vulnerable".
A giant panda rests on a shelf in Shenshuping Base, Wolong, China Giant Panda Protection Research Center (photo taken on April 24). Xinhua News Agency reporter Yan Bingjie photo
Wang Fang, an expert from the Expert Committee of Giant Panda National Park, believes that the protection of giant pandas has made remarkable achievements. What needs to be further solved in the next step is to alleviate the fragmentation of habitats and the relatively scattered isolation between populations.
In December 2016, China adopted the Pilot Program of Giant Panda National Park System. On October 12, 2021, the Giant Panda National Park was formally established, covering Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, with a total area of about 27,000 square kilometers.
"On the basis of integrating the original protected areas, the Giant Panda National Park aims to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the ecosystem, explore new modes of ecological civilization construction, and realize the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, so that the giant panda can better inhabit, survive and reproduce, and provide protection for the long-term protection of the ecosystem." Xiang Kewen, director of the Giant Panda National Park Administration, said.
This is an imposition photo: in 2020, the staff discovered a new orchid species, Agastachys wolongensis (upper left), in Wolong area of Giant Panda National Park; On January 22, 2021, the rock sheep (bottom left) was photographed by the outdoor infrared camera in Wang Lang area of Giant Panda National Park; On August 19th, 2021, the snow leopard (right) was photographed by the outdoor infrared camera in Wang Lang area of Giant Panda National Park. Xinhua news agency
The Huangtuliang Corridor, located in the north of Sichuan, connects Pingwu County and Jiuzhaigou County. In the past, because of the Panshan Highway and human activities along the road, giant pandas have long faced "difficulty in getting married". However, since the Panshan Highway was turned into a tunnel, the vegetation gradually recovered, and animals such as giant pandas and takins appeared on the hillside more and more frequently.
It is understood that nine giant panda corridors and seven wildlife passages have been completed in the Giant Panda National Park, and 128.5 square kilometers of vegetation has been restored, creating favorable conditions for the exchange of isolated small populations of giant pandas. In addition, China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center helps gene exchange among giant panda populations through the forms of wild rescue and artificial wild release. At present, 11 giant pandas have been trained in the wild and released to nature.
Exploration of protection and development in parallel
The Giant Panda National Park is divided into core protected areas and general controlled areas, which are included in the red line management of ecological protection, and strict differentiated control is applied to human activities and development and production project construction activities. How to solve the contradiction between protection and development?
Yingjing County is an important habitat for the wild giant panda population in Daxiangling Mountain, and 48.7% of the county area is included in the Giant Panda National Park. However, this small mountainous county used to rely heavily on the "three-headed economy" of coal mines and granite plates (stones), forest harvesting (wood) and small hydropower (water head), which were mainly based on extensive mining and simple processing. The proportion of "three-headed economy" in county economy was as high as 70%.
The staff carried out patrol in Tangjiahe area of Giant Panda National Park (photo). Xinhua news agency
The traditional industry of "relying on mountains to eat mountains" is unsustainable, and industrial transformation is imperative. Gu Yujun, secretary of Yingjing County Party Committee, said that in recent years, the county has raised nearly 1 billion yuan, closed more than 140 mines, small hydropower stations and small wood and stone processing plants, and transformed into resource-saving and environment-friendly new building materials, forest health and vacation, and green organic agriculture. Today, the proportion of "three-headed economy" in the county economy has dropped to 10%.
Development Village of Longcanggou Town, Yingjing County is a well-known "Panda B&B Village". Guo Hongmei was married from Yibin to the daughter-in-law of Development Village, and she and her husband were the first to open "farmhouse music" in the village. After continuous expansion and upgrading, their "farmhouse" has 22 rooms, with an annual income of 300,000 to 400,000 yuan.
"We have not only wild animals such as giant pandas, but also virgin forests and contiguous wild Davidia involucrata forests." Guo Hongmei receives more than 100 groups of guests every year, many of whom are "repeat customers".
The staff changed the battery and memory card of the field infrared camera in Tangjiahe area of Giant Panda National Park (data photo). Xinhua news agency
In Luoyigou Village, which is adjacent to Tangjiahe District of Giant Panda National Park, a "community rolling development fund" has been established to feed back the villagers, and community economic cooperatives, beekeeping professional cooperatives and fruit professional cooperatives have been established successively to help the villagers develop characteristic agriculture and eco-tourism that meet the protection requirements.
Yang Tingxiu, a 56-year-old villager in Luoyigou Village, keeps dozens of boxes of bees at home, and runs a "farmhouse", earning more than 100,000 yuan a year. "The ecology is getting better and better these years, and our days are better." Yang Tingxiu also has small troubles in his happiness. "There are often deer, monkeys and wild boars running to the fields to eat crops."
Located in the south entrance community of Giant Panda National Park in Yingjing County, Ya ‘an City, Sichuan Province. Xinhua news agency
Chen Limin, the person in charge of Tangjiahe area of Giant Panda National Park, told the reporter that they have formulated management measures to carry out the pilot work of compensation for wildlife accidents in Luoyigou Village by raising funds.
Xiang Kewen believes that during the construction of the Giant Panda National Park, the new path of integration of protection and development explored by Sichuan has effectively resolved the objective conflict between people and animals for the environment and between protection and development for space, and provided experience for similar areas to establish a nature reserve system with national parks as the main body.
Share a green home
An adult wild giant panda walks leisurely in the dam of Huanglong country in Songpan area of Giant Panda National Park.
The infrared camera in Wang Lang area of Giant Panda National Park recorded the pictures of wild giant pandas’ mother and son sniffing and biting the trunk …
A giant panda rests in a tree in the Shenshuping base of Wolong, China Giant Panda Protection Research Center (photo taken on April 24). Xinhua News Agency reporter Yan Bingjie photo
With the protection of national parks, the frequent occurrence of giant pandas has now become "news that is not news". Snow leopards, Asian black bears, crested deer and red-bellied pheasants also appeared. New species of plants, such as Saussurea involucrata and Impatiens elongata, have also been discovered.
The villagers who enjoy the ecological dividend have obviously enhanced their awareness of protection, and they began to join the protection team spontaneously.
On May 10th, Yu Jia Hua Gang, a 72-year-old villager from Chashan Village, Fengyi Town, Maoxian County, Sichuan Province, attended the latest patrol. He said, while you can still walk, go to Jiuding Mountain several times more.
Jiuding Mountain area is located in the middle of Longmen Mountains in Minshan Mountain system, and the ecological environment is generally good, so the giant panda has been able to reproduce so far. However, in the 1990s, due to human activities, tens of thousands of acres of vegetation on Jiuding Mountain were destroyed, and the number of wild animals dropped sharply.
The wild pandas released from the Wolong area of the Giant Panda National Park (photo taken on April 22, 2020). Xinhua News Agency reporter Yan Bingjie photo
"It can’t go on like this." Yu Jiahua, a former hunter, and his younger brother put down their shotguns and began to patrol the mountains against poaching.
Dismantling the wire rope sheath, publicizing and protecting, patrolling the mountain … Since 1995, they have been working spontaneously for 27 years. The patrol team continued to grow, and Yu Jiahua’s family went into battle for three generations. More than 500 villagers from surrounding villages were also mobilized to patrol the mountains, and a farmer patrol team was spontaneously established.
It is not easy to patrol the mountain road for 27 years. They walk on the mountains at an altitude of 3000 meters to 5000 meters all the year round, eating dry food and drinking cold snow water, and walking for dozens of kilometers on a patrol. Where the rock wall is steep, the patrol members can only drag the branches to climb the mountain.
Students from Hu Changbao Primary School in Yingjing County, Sichuan Province participated in the activities of finding and identifying the footprints of wild animals in the camp of Panda Forest International Exploration School (photo taken on January 13, 2021). Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Hongjing photo
In Feihong Community, longchi town, Dujiangyan City, the entrance community of Giant Panda National Park, there is a plateau giant panda habitat protection community. Villagers set up patrol teams to regularly patrol about 30,000 mu of forest land in the protection community.
Wang Xianxiang, a 61-year-old resident, is the oldest patrol member. He often takes his grandson and granddaughter to participate in various nature education activities in Dujiangyan Management and Protection Station of Giant Panda National Park. "I hope the next generation will pass on their love for nature."
Li Sheng, a researcher at Peking University College of Life Sciences, believes that the protection of giant pandas is a classic success story of global wildlife protection, from fragmented habitats to national parks as a whole, from "Jiulong Water Control" to unified management, which reflects the effectiveness of ecological protection and biodiversity protection in China.