China's conservation efforts

China moves to save endangered wildlife
By Xin Dingding (China Daily)
2004-10-04 09:12

Nature reserves, forest parks, geo-parks or scenic areas can be found almost everywhere in China nowadays. They are the last sanctuary of the country's wildlife.

Through establishing these protected areas, improving the management on them and amending relevant laws and regulations, scientists and conservationists are saving many of the country's endangered species from extinction.

More than 90 per cent of giant pandas, China's national treasure, are protected in nature reserves in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.

Latest figures from the State Forestry Administration claim the number of wild pandas has increased from 1,100 in 1988 to more than 1,590 today, and that does not include those aged under 18 months.
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World unites to save chiru
(China Daily)
2004-10-04 11:34

Stringent protection measures have brought the majestic Tibetan antelope, known as the chiru, back from the brink of extinction.

The animal - which once roamed in millions - had been decimated by poaching.

But tough protection measures by the government and crucial enforcement and monitoring work by devoted international volunteers have given the antelopes enough breathing space to breed.

For thousands of years, millions of Tibetan antelopes have been roaming freely on the vast Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

They are unique to the area. Because of the threat posed by the poacher's gun in recent decades, the beast is today categorized by the State as a Class A species, a status which affords it greater protection.

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