Because the giant panda is confined to China, the greatest responsibility to preserve its natural habitat is left to that country. But, although China is the third largest country in the World, it faces tremendous pressure to control its 1.2 billion population, the largest in the world. Despite such drastic and controversial policies as limiting families to one child, the demand for agricultural land, timbers, and other natural resources for human use remain great, and the panda’s wilderness home continues to shrink.
The population in Sichuan in the 1930s was 50 million; by he 1980s the population had increased to 110 million. About 3000 people inhabit the main valley in Sichuan’s Wolong Valley, a small area about one-eighth of the entire province the good soil and mild climate permit up to three harvest per year. There, divided into two communes, inhabitants grow potatoes, maize, beans, and other crops. Many mountainsides have been stripped below the level of 7900 feet. The forest has either been cleared for fields and pastures or reduced to scrub. Cattle, sheep, and goats graze on emerging seedlings, which prevents regeneration of the forest. Also, their hooves loosen the thin mountain soil. Without tree cover, summer rains cause the soil to wash away, causing deep grooves and landslides. At an altitude of 13000 feet, trees are slow to regrow. It may take eighty to ninety years for a tree trunk to grow eight to ten inches in diameter. Suitable habitat for giant panda has lost severely due to cutting down trees for agriculture, fuel and housing.