[File photo]

The first Giant Panda Festival will be held in Wenchuan, Sichuan province from Oct. 18 to 20, in an effort to promote protection of the national icon and stimulate the local economy.

“Care for panda’s homeland, advance toward joint growth” is the theme for this year’s panda festival. The festival aims to promote green development and the protection of giant pandas, as well as to create a “panda brand” for local tourism, which will advance the economic, social and cultural development of Wenchuan, the local government explained at a press release in Chengdu on Sept. 29.

During the festival, exhibitions will be held to showcase achievements in panda protection made by Wolong National Natural Reserve. Several international conferences will also be arranged to discuss the training of zoo pandas and the protection of pandas' natural habitats. Films of Wenchuan’s natural landscape, recorded by drones, will be screened, China National Radio reported.

After the major earthquake in Wenchuan in 2008, local government put a great deal of effort into the restoration of the panda protection center and habitat. Currently, there are two natural reserves and a scenic zone in Wenchuan that stretch across 148,000 hectares and house 165 wild giant pandas.

As the population of giant pandas in the wild increases, the animal was downgraded in September from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the Red List maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.