If wildlife habitats are strictly protected...
In the past the habitat of the Giant Panda was degraded and divided into isolated parts due to improper use of different natural resources. Sichuan Province is the key area for this ancient, rare and endangered species today. More than 900 individuals live in an area of more than 10,000 sqkm. These are more than 80% of the total population worldwide. 22 Nature Reserves for Giant Panda were set up in Sichuan during the last 35 years. Today about 4,000 sqkm of Panda habitat are strictly protected as National or Provincial Nature Reserves.
...local residents probably have economical disadvantages...
If those reserves are effectively and efficiently managed they provide optimal protection for the remaining panda population. But the local residents living in or around the reserve lose a part of their basis of life. In the reserves it is not allowed to collect fire wood or medical plants or to graze life stock. Forest farms and logging companies lose some of their former area and have to stop their annual cut. In many cases the protection efforts lead to an increasing wildlife population and wildlife damages the fields and crops of farmers near the reserves. That all means economical losses if new approaches for living and production are not adapted.
...which have to be compensated with new approaches.
To protect nature and to maintain a certain standard of living it is necessary that all stakeholders cooperate effectively. The administrations of nature reserves will protect their wildlife resources more successfully. The local residents will practis environmentally sound methods which lead to a sustainable use of natural resources and will at the same time compensate the economical losses.
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