With his GPS fully charged, notebook and flashlight packed, Shen Yuanping ran through a final check before heading deep into the mountains. Unlike most forest rangers, his mission was unique: to safeguard the habitat of China's national treasure, the giant panda.

Shen trekked through the mountains in southwest China's Sichuan province along what is known as a "beast trail," a path filled with fallen leaves and worn smooth by the repeated steps of wild animals. His hiking shoes, their edges frayed, bore silent witness to the countless miles he had hiked.

As a ranger at China's Giant Panda National Park, his responsibilities include public education on forest and wildlife protection laws, enforcing laws against illegal logging and hunting, conducting fire patrols, and monitoring for pests and geological hazards.

What fills Shen and other rangers with pride is that more and more animals now roam the forests along their daily patrol routes, and the vegetation grows increasingly lush.

Established in 2021, the Giant Panda National Park has significantly improved the habitat of wild pandas and boosted the species' population. Speaking at the recently held Global Panda Partners Conference 2025 in Chengdu, Sichuan, head of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Liu Guohong, said the park integrated 73 isolated nature reserves, expanding the protected area to 22,000 square kilometers.

Recent statistics from the park's Sichuan section, which accounts for 88 percent of the total area, show that the annual number of wild giant panda sightings has increased from 135 to 185, indicating a stable recovery of the population.

A staff member dressed in a panda costume feeds a giant panda at the Wolong area of the Giant Panda National Park in southwest China's Sichuan province, June 24, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

Making way for pandas

For Shen, who grew up in Wolong, a heartland of giant pandas, his connection with pandas traces back to childhood. "While herding cattle as a boy, I would occasionally encounter wild pandas. Sometimes they even wandered into my herd," he recalled.

This deep-rooted bond eventually drew him back from coastal cities to serve as a forest ranger in 2012, deepening his understanding of his elders' teachings: "We have always been closely tied to giant pandas. We protect them, and in return, these spiritual creatures 'bless' us."

Over the years, Shen has witnessed how this ancient wisdom of coexistence has evolved with the times.

For a long time, the giant panda's habitat has been fragmented by human infrastructure and natural barriers. As a result, the wild panda population is divided into 33 isolated subpopulations, raising concerns among experts over inbreeding and localized extinction.

The launch of the national park marked a turning point. Spanning parts of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces and home to 1,340 wild pandas, the park has a key mission: creating ecological corridors to facilitate genetic exchange among panda groups.

"We restore vegetation, close roads that separate panda groups, and reduce human activity in key areas to reconnect these isolated patches so that pandas can visit their 'neighbors,'" explained Wu Lin, an ecological restoration engineer.

A vivid example of such efforts is seen in the construction of the high-speed railway linking Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou. The route was deliberately detoured to preserve a panda corridor, increasing the construction by 20 percent but achieving positive ecological results. In recent years, field monitoring has found local panda populations reproducing, and wild pandas were spotted in a closed mine, "taking over" the space vacated by humans.

So far, six giant panda corridors have been established, connecting 13 isolated giant panda populations.

This photo taken by an infrared camera on May 28, 2022 shows a wild giant panda at the Tangjiahe Nature Reserve of the Giant Panda National Park in southwest China's Sichuan province. [Photo/Tangjiahe Nature Reserve of the Giant Panda National Park handout via Xinhua]

The intensified protection of pandas has also unlocked new opportunities for local communities. In Luoyigou Village, within the park's Tangjiahe Nature Reserve, the initial restrictions posed challenges for residents who had long depended on the mountains for their livelihoods.

Yet as the ecosystem thrived and tourist numbers surged, new opportunities emerged. Some villagers transformed their homes into roadside guesthouses and restaurants, while others turned to beekeeping, significantly boosting their incomes.

"Sustainable conservation isn't about isolation; it should be an inclusive effort that benefits both wildlife and people," said Wang Lu of the Tangjiahe reserve management department.

More than pandas

China's panda protection has come a long way, as the country has begun establishing giant panda nature reserves since the 1960s. Thanks to sustained conservation efforts, the International Union for Conservation of Nature downgraded the giant panda's status from endangered to vulnerable in 2016. Currently, nearly 1,900 giant pandas are living in the wild in China.

The establishment of the Giant Panda National Park is part of China's effort to develop the world's largest national park system, a major step toward promoting ecological civilization. In its recent recommendations for formulating China's 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (2026-2030), the Communist Party of China's leadership vows to further develop the national park-based system of protected areas and establish more national parks in a well-ordered manner.

Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkeys are pictured at the Yuhe area of the Giant Panda National Park in northwest China's Gansu province, Oct. 14, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

The Giant Panda National Park protects approximately 1,340 wild giant pandas and also serves as a sanctuary for over 8,000 other rare and sympatric species, including the golden snub-nosed monkey, snow leopard, dove tree and Chinese yew. Experts explain that, as a flagship species, the giant panda exerts an "umbrella effect," safeguarding the countless other species that share its habitat.

In the Niba Mountain Corridor of Ya'an, Sichuan, infrared cameras have captured various animals, including Tibetan macaques, Chinese serows, tufted deer and Temminck's tragopans, all of which benefit from the restoration of fragmented panda habitats.

In the Wolong area of the national park, snow leopards typically roam at altitudes between 4,000 and 5,700 meters. In comparison, giant pandas inhabit areas below 3,500 meters, living as neighbors in shared vertical space.

In the Gansu and Shaanxi sections of the park, the areas where giant pandas reside also serve as primary habitats for golden snub-nosed monkeys and takins.

For forest rangers such as Shen Yuanping, their patrols have become more comprehensive. "I now monitor both the pandas and their companion species, while also keeping an eye on high-altitude wildlife like the snow leopard and alpine plants," he said.

The opening ceremony of the Global Panda Partners Conference 2025 is held in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan province, Nov. 21, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

At the Global Panda Partners Conference 2025, Erastus Mwencha, former deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission, said China's efforts in protecting giant pandas have been "one of the world's greatest conservation success stories."

"The story of the giant panda gives us hope. It teaches us that with care, persistence and cooperation, we can heal the planet we share," he added.