Bad neighbors

"Herding is one of the major activities done by nearby residents," said Huang Yan, deputy chief engineer with CCRCGP.

People herd horses, cows and goats which compete for bamboo leaves with pandas and take up the living space of the timid animal, Huang said.

Communities that live close to pandas, many of whom are ethnic minorities such as Tibetan and Qiang people, depends mainly on grazing for their livelihoods, said Diao Kunpeng, a research fellow with the NGO Shan Shui Conservation Center (SSCC) that is devoted to promoting biodiversity in Southeast China.

Diao added that locals often cut down bamboo shoots and collect herbs in nature reserves for sale or their own use, which forces pandas to move to other areas to hunt for food.

In the face of conflicts between humans and pandas, both local governments and NGOs are seeking ways to protect pandas and locals' interests.

Yang Xiaojun, head of the resource bureau in Wolong in Sichuan, said that they have encouraged nearby residents to run restaurants and hotels around the nature reserve and have taught them to raise domestic animals in designated areas.

People living in Baishuijiang Nature Reserve in Gansu plant edible mushrooms and keep bees to reduce their reliance on natural resources also needed by protected wildlife, Xinhua reported.

"About 100 residents of the Wanglang Nature Reserve who took part in our bee-keeping program earned about 10,000 yuan ($1,599) a year more than before, and have exerted less pressure on the panda's habitat," Feng Jie, director of SSCC's projects in Sichuan, said.

However, he admitted that the mushrooms and bee-related products - despite their high quality - are difficult to market due to their high prices.

Zhao Huawen, founder of the Eudemonia Bank, an organization based in Chengdu dedicated to protecting the habitats of pandas, pointed out that "poverty alleviation requires systematic programs, attracting the joint efforts of businesses, NGOs and local governments."

Economy vs ecology

The SFA has blamed the fragmentation of habitats on roads and high-voltage transmission towers. The survey identified the construction of 319 hydropower plants, 1,339 kilometers of roads, 268.7 kilometers of high-voltage transmission lines, 984 residential areas, 479 mines and 25 tourist attractions as major disturbances to the animal's habitats.

Yang said many pandas live in remote regions where the economy lags far behind the rest of the nation, citing the barren mountainous Liangshan area in Sichuan as an example. "Local people have no natural resources but ores like agate. Although no mines have been approved officially recently, families dig for ore by themselves without machines," Yang said.

As roads and railways are seen as the foundation of economic development, some local governments believe those projects are more important than pandas, said Fan Zhiyong, director of the species program of the WWF China conservation group.

As for dams and mines, which are run by State-owned enterprises, local governments have little say in the approval process. Besides, they also applaud those projects that bring in taxes and energy, Fan said.

"The balance between socioeconomic development and the protection of pandas can hardly be achieved," Fan said, "but we can still try our best to provide some living space to pandas."

The government can build viaducts and tunnels instead of roads and railways, which prevent the fragmentation of habitats, he said.