National panda park planned for Sichuan

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-10-14

Two giant pandas play at a panda reserve in Sichuan, July 7.
(Photo/CNS)

A national park devoted to giant panda conservation could be the best way to protect the species, at least Southwest China's Sichuan provincial forestry department said on Saturday.

Yao Sidan, head of the department, put forward the idea of a national park for giant pandas in a provincial environmental plan released Friday.

A repackaging of current natural reserves, forestry and wetland parks in western Sichuan, the national park would be a major innovation in the protection of the endangered species, Yao said.

The plan calls for the giant panda habitat to be no less than 26.5 million mu (1.77 million hectares), and be established by 2020.