World-class giant panda research platform unveiled in Chengdu

A world-class platform for scientific cooperation in giant panda research was unveiled in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on Friday, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said.

The new platform, called the National Giant Panda Conservation Center, consolidates research resources housed at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and an existing panda conservation research center.

It has established a research academic committee and an innovation alliance for panda conservation led by Wei Fuwen, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a prominent conservation biologist.

The platform is working to build a key national laboratory for giant panda research and a key national lab for the conservation of giant pandas and other endangered animals.

The administration also said on Friday that it has worked with the Sichuan provincial forestry and grassland administration and the Chengdu city government to establish a research fund for giant panda conservation, with an initial investment of 110 million yuan ($15.2 million).

Two major research projects — one focusing on technologies for conserving wild giant panda populations and habitats in national parks and one centering on technologies for conserving genetic diversity in captive giant panda populations — have been launched, it said.