Giant panda off endangered list with almost 2000 pandas

The giant panda is off the endangered list thanks to aggressive conservation efforts in China. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said in a report that the panda is now classified as a “vulnerable” instead of “endangered” species, reflecting its growing numbers in the wild in southern China.

It said the wild panda population jumped to 1,864 in 2014 from 1,596 in 2004, the result of work by Chinese agencies to enforce poaching bans and expand forest reserves

The IUCN report warned that although better forest protection has helped increase panda numbers, climate change is predicted to eliminate more than 35 per cent of its natural bamboo habitat in the next 80 years, potentially leading to another decline.