Sichuan to receive 1,100 wild pandas

According to the State Forestry Administration, the Sichuan Provincial Government and the Forestry Department of Sichuan Province, a national panda park that covers Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces will be established. The establishment means that over 70 perncet of the panda's habitat and 80 percent of wild pandas in Sichuan will be under the responsibility of the new park. The latest figures show that, in Sichuan, there are 1,387 wilds pandas, whose habitat occupies 20,200 square kilometers (7,799 square miles). In other words, the new park is scheduled to receive 1,100 pandas and maintain a habitat of 14,000 square kilometers (5,405 square miles). The park is going to be divided into a hardcore protection zone, an ecological restoration zone, a sightseeing zone and a rest zone for visitors.

The park is required to ensure that the protection rate of the habitat is no less than 70 percent and that the number of wild pandas should make up at least 80 percent of the total numbers. In addition, the hardcore protection zone and the ecological restoration zone must be adjacent to each other. When dividing the sightseeing zone and the rest zone, planners should consider how to spur the local economy and improve the people's livelihood.