China is taking a new focus on nature conservation by announcing plans to create dozens of national parks, among which is one entirely devoted to giant pandas.
Plans for the first four of such parks was submitted for approval by the central government in Beijing earlier this week, according to Xinhua. The panda park specifically, which remains unnamed, will span the three provinces of Sichuan, which holds the largest population of pandas, Shaanxi and Gansu.
Image via Vegan Liftz
The other three proposed reserves will each focus on other endangered species like the Asian elephant, Tibetan antelopes, and big cats like Amur leopards and Siberian tigers, according to ScienceMag.
Feng Limin, a biologist at Beijing Normal University, said of China’s new conservation efforts:
“China now has enough money. We can pay attention to environmental conservation.”
Fortunately for pandas, their numbers have been on the rise. As of the end of 2015, there were 1,387 wild pandas and 364 in captivity.
