A December 2001 Report from U.S. Embassy Beijing

This message provides an overview of the giant panda's situation in China and around the globe, with an emphasis on governmental structures, international policy, and foreign relations issues. While still highly endangered, the wild panda population, now probably about 1,000 animals, is stable. Its future, while not assured, is not as bleak as it was ten years ago. Institutional capacity in China for protecting pandas is growing, but Chinese interest in loaning pandas overseas is declining.

Biology Basics: Shy Mountain Dwellers Love Bamboo

There are estimated to be about 1,000 wild pandas, and roughly another 100 pandas in various zoos and research stations around the world. All wild pandas live in China. Eighty percent of them live in just a few areas of Central China's Sichuan Province, with the remaining 20% just over the Sichuan boundary line in Gansu and Shaanxi Provinces.

Pandas are extremely shy, and are rarely seen in the wild, even by rangers who regularly patrol the habitat. For this reason, and because of the pandas' mountainous habitat, basic research on panda populations, movements and habits is extremely difficult. Research findings on wild populations should always be considered to have a large element of speculation.

Pandas may survive 15-20 years in the wild (females usually longer than males), and up to 30 years in zoos. A healthy adult would normally weigh between 200 and 250 pounds, roughly the size of an American black bear. Despite the fact that they are historically carnivores, they now almost exclusively eat bamboo, which they must consume in large quantities.

Isolation of Populations Discourages Genetic Mixing

The steady decline in panda habitat over the centuries has left wild pandas living only in remote, mountainous areas. Over the past forty years, China has increased the number and size of nature reserves where pandas are found so that now roughly 50-60% of wild pandas live in protected reserves. All but a few national-level reserves are operated by provincial or county forestry bureaus, which are generally ill-equipped for the task. Reserves may exist in name only, with little or no staff, and even lacking basic infrastructure such as boundary markers and access roads.

Fragmentation of panda habitat into "islands" has led to a potential problem with inbreeding, since isolated populations cannot interact and mate. One recent topic in panda research has been to identify the genetic characteristics of every captive panda, in hopes of managing breeding in order to promote genetic diversity within the captive population.

Pandas in Captivity: Two Major Centers in China

Captive pandas are kept at some 20 sites in China, Hong Kong, and around the world. Foreign-based pandas reside in Washington DC, Atlanta, San Diego, Madrid, Berlin, Mexico City, and Tokyo. An association of zoos and institutions maintains an authoritative reference list of all captive giant pandas called the "Giant Panda Studbook." Pandas are noted for their poor reproductive success in captivity, where most reproduction has involved artificial insemination. They also frequently die in infancy.

China has two major panda research stations, as well as important research programs at the Beijing Zoo and academic institutions. Perhaps the most famous research station is the China Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong, about three hours by car from Chengdu city, Sichuan Province. This facility is under the jurisdiction of the State Forestry Administration. The second major panda center is the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base in Chengdu, which operates under the authority of the Ministry of Construction. Wolong has about 45 animals, and Chengdu has perhaps 30.

Domestic Governmental Apparatus: Two Ministries

Two governmental bodies in China are involved with pandas: the State Forestry Administration (SFA) and the Ministry of Construction (MOC). The SFA is involved because of its role as the lead agency in Chinese wildlife protection, including acting as implementing agency for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The SFA also manages policy and implementation of Chinese domestic law on endangered species. The MOC, among its other duties, is responsible for construction and operation of zoos, and therefore is involved only with captive pandas.

Provincial, county and township forestry bureaus have the front-line responsibility for implementing the "panda policy" developed by the SFA. These responsibilities include staffing, operating and patrolling most natural reserves where pandas live. Both institutional capacity and financial resources diminish at lower levels of government. Staff may be limited or non-existent at many reserves, and lack basic training and equipment that would leverage their often-considerable knowledge of the local area. Difficult working conditions, including time away from families spent working in remote areas under primitive living conditions, as well as the low salaries paid to reserve employees, make it difficult to attract and retain high quality staff.

Two other Chinese organizations are involved with pandas: the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) and the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens (CAZG). Although these two organizations are ostensibly non-governmental organizations (NGO's), they are in fact closely linked to specific bureaus (CWCA to SFA, CAZG to MOC) and are popularly referred to in China as GONGO's (government-organized non-governmental organizations).

China¡¯s Panda Policy and the Third Panda Survey

China's 1993 "Conservation Plan for the Giant Panda and Its Habitat," along with broader laws protecting endangered species in general, is a key legal tool used to protect pandas in China. The Panda Plan includes plans for research and conservation, and was developed based on the findings of a national survey of pandas in the wild conducted in the late 1980's. Both the Panda Survey and the Panda Plan were prepared in cooperation with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). But the Plan -- in particularly the elements dealing with conservation projects -- is now badly outdated.

The SFA is now developing a new Panda Plan, which will be based on the as-yet-uncompleted Third Panda Survey. The Third Panda Survey will be a thorough scientific inquiry into the condition of wild pandas. It was begun in 1998, and fieldwork was completed in late 2001. The results of the survey should be available in 2002, following evaluation of the raw data garnered during fieldwork.

Panda Loans to Other Countries

CITES is the international agreement governing any international transfer of a listed species. Pandas, of course, qualify for the highest level of protection. For pandas and other flora and fauna listed in Appendix I, any transfer of not only a living animal, but also its parts (paws, meat, fur, organs, even semen), must be approved by both the importing and exporting countries' relevant government agencies.

Some of the pandas currently living outside China were State gifts (Mexico City, Berlin) but others are "loaned" animals for which annual fees of up to $1 million are paid, and which remain the property of China (as do any offspring). U.S. regulations governing the transfer of pandas (more below) require: 1) that the loaned animals be used for research purposes; 2) that the animals come from captivity; and 3) that the funds from the loan agreement go to promote panda conservation in China. Other countries' laws on panda imports are generally less restrictive than U.S. laws and policies.

As Chinese government budgets have increased in relative terms, the Chinese bureaucracy's economic incentive to arrange additional international loan programs has slipped. At the same time, some conservationists have criticized panda loans as serving no particular purpose in conservation terms. Although China is still considering additional panda loans, including to some candidate U.S. zoos, it is unlikely that Chinese authorities will actually approve more than a handful of additional panda loans in the future.

The Mechanics of Panda Loans

How are deals made for lending pandas to other countries? As noted above, both the SFA and MOC control separate populations of captive pandas eligible to be loaned to other countries. The loan process works something like this: a foreign zoo develops an interest in obtaining loaned pandas. That institution approaches either the SFA or the MOC through an associated GONGO (CWCA or CZGA). The foreign zoo and the GONGO then develop and sign a detailed letter of intent specifying (among other things) which individual animals would be transferred, along with the financial arrangements for the loan payments. This agreement is then approved by the SFA, in their role as the implementing office for CITES, and also by the MOC if the loan is arranged through MOC. The approved contract then passes through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is eventually given to the State Council for final approval. (In the past, competition for resources and control between SFA and MOC has complicated panda loans, but in recent years these issues appear to have been ironed out.)

In the U.S., the Department of Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is responsible for implementing CITES obligations and other wildlife legislation. The FWS has a formal Panda Policy dealing specifically with giant panda issues.

Under CITES, the FWS issues (and denies) permits allowing imports of pandas (or any part of a panda) into the U.S. In order to do this the FWS evaluates applications submitted by the importing organization, normally a zoo or academic institution. One key criterion for evaluating applications under the FWS's Panda Policy is that the importing institution has the technical expertise and financial wherewithal to manage the pandas and the research programs specified in the panda loan agreement. The zoo's program must also be mainly not for commercial purposes. Furthermore, U.S. policy stipulates that only pandas born in captivity or taken from the wild before December 31, 1996 can be imported into the U.S. Wild pandas found sick or injured in the wild cannot be imported into the United States.

Pandas are listed as endangered and therefore also fall under the jurisdiction of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). One provision of the ESA stipulates that "qualified" conservation activities must reduce the threat of extinction facing a species. The FWS's Panda Policy indicates that in order to qualify U.S. panda loan payments must be used "primarily" to promote the conservation of wild pandas. In the absence of such a finding, the FWS is obligated to block loan payments to China. This situation has occurred in the past.