HONG KONG
THE giant panda may be reclassified from "endangered" to "vulnerable" as the species' population in the wild increases, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported yesterday, citing a source.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) was considering changing the universally loved animal's ranking on its red list of threatened species, the source was cited as saying by the Post.
IUCN is the leading authority on the extinction risk facing the world's threatened species, and classifies the danger into seven categories. The giant panda was first listed as an endangered species in 1990.
Currently, the panda is deemed at high risk of dying off in the wild, although the review could see it moved down one rung, to "high risk of endangerment", the source said.
A scientific assessment of the giant-panda population size and habitat commissioned by the IUCN was completed a year ago, but an official decision has yet to be made.
"Scientifically, the wild population is increasing, and the natural habitat is expanding," the source said according to the Post.
Last week, the forestry department in China's southern province of Sichuan, the natural home of giant pandas, released figures showing that the number of wild giant pandas in the province had risen 15 per cent in the past 10 years, to 1,387.
However, Lu Zhi, a professor of conservation biology at Peking University, said that the encouraging figures belied "fragmentation" threatening the species' habitat, whereby intense human activities cut large swathes of land into smaller and more isolated patches.
"Even though the overall area of habitat is expanding, we're actually losing the best ones," Prof Lu said according to the Post.
"I'd hope any decision will be made very cautiously. It's better to be conservative than regretful someday."