Wolong Nature Reserve

Giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) are only found in six mountain areas along the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau in China, due to habitat loss and fragmentation over the past 50 years (Loucks et al., 2001).  Currently there are approximately 1,600 pandas in the wild. More than sixty protection areas for giant pandas have been established in China since 1963. As one of the first four reserves, the Wolong Nature Reserve is located high in the Qionglai mountains of Sichuan province, China. In 1975 it was expanded to a current size of approximately 200,000 hectares and is now the second largest reserve for giant pandas. Extending from 1,250 to 6,250 m in elevation and supporting several climate zones, the reserve is within a global biodiversity hotspot area, has diverse flora and fauna, with many species found no else in the world. As one of the earliest nature reserves established in China, the first nature reserve opened to western scientists, and one with among the largest wild giant panda population (ca. 140 individuals, approximately 9% of all wild individuals), Wolong Nature Reserve is considered a flagship reserve in China and attracts global attention.

People in Wolong

The reserve is managed by the Wolong Administration Bureau, reporting to both China’s State Forestry Administration and Sichuan Province. The Wolong Administration Bureau is hierarchically structured. Under the Administration Bureau, there are two Township governments -- Wolong Township and Genda Township. Within each township, there are three Villages, which in turn consist of three to seven groups. During the last three decades human population in Wolong, composed of mostly Tibetan and Qiang minorities of Chinese, has almost doubled to around 5,000 and the number of households has tripled to over 1,200. Most people in Wolong live with low income, limited education, low nutrition intake, and poor primary health care.

Although it has been more than 40 years since the establishment of the first reserve for giant pandas in China, the loss and fragmentation of their habitat still remain as the main threats to the sustainability of the population.  Between 1975 and 1989, when intensive panda studies were initiated, half of the panda habitat in Sichuan province was lost due to logging, agricultural activities and road construction. Wolong is not an exception; it was shown that panda habitat deteriorated after Wolong was established as a reserve due to pressure from increasing human population and household numbers. 

There are a variety of human activities in the Reserve, such as farming, collection of fuelwood and collection of Chinese herbal medicinal plants. Before 1975, much of the loss and fragmentation of panda habitat in Wolong was due to commercial timber harvest (banned in the reserve in 1975).  Since then, fuelwood collection had been the most important factor affecting forests and has impacted the largest forested area in the last 25 years of the last century in the Reserve. Fuelwood was needed daily for cooking human food and pig fodder and for heating in the winter.  As population and household number grew in the reserve, the impact of fuelwood collection became more and more extensive and intensive, but local people had no alternative energy and income sources in the past to change this situation.

Recent Development in Wolong

Since the mid-1990’s, economic development has increased in the reserve, especially in recent years, as a result of the intensification of agricultural activities (cash crop plantation such as cabbage and turnip), the booming of the tourism industry, and the implementation of new policies/programs (China’s national forest conservation programs), among many others.  Wolong has been in the midst of a shift from agricultural to non-agricultural economies, and from consumptive to non-consumptive uses of the forest, with an expectation that human impacts on panda habitat will be mitigated. 

Wolong SOS

After the devastating maganitide-8.07 earthquake at 14:28 pm of May 12th, 2008, the wheel of Wolong history paused here.  Incomplete statistics tell us that over 90% of the local houses collapsed or were damaged, hundreds of livestock were buried, dozens of people died with hundreds still missing, the only road to the outside was damaged, …

Where is Wolong heading to? Going back to what it was decades ago? Or may we take this as an opportunity to achieve sustainable development?  Yes, the future of Wolong is in the hands of ours, we the people and the pandas there!

For information on Wolong after earthquake, please visit 2008 WOLONG SOS.

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