Giant pandas are considered a threatened and precious species in China. They are listed under Category 1 (maximum level of protection) of the Chinese Wildlife Conservation Law of 1988 and on Appendix I of CITES. In 1989 the Chinese Ministry of Forestry (now SFA) and WWF drafted a joint national conservation plan for the giant panda, which was eventually adopted by the Chinese government in 1992. This plan now guides conservation initiatives for this species.

Since poaching of pandas has been largely controlled, the major conservation issue is restoring their habitat (Reid and Gong 1999, Lü et al. 2000). Previous considerations to clone pandas have been largely abandoned. There are still plans to release captive animals (experimental tests of this are presently occurring), but this effort addresses mainly a problem of overcrowding in captivity (due to enormous success in captive breeding) rather than the wild situation. Reintroduction of captive animals may be limited by lack of suitable release sites with adequate habitat but few or no pandas, which are necessary conditions to avoid possible transmission of disease and social disruption of the wild population.

A concerted effort has been made to increase both the quantity and quality of panda habitat. Beginning in 1963, forest reserves were established specifically for the conservation of giant pandas. By 1990, 13 panda reserves had been established — presently there are nearly 60 (under either federal or provincial jurisdiction). Increasing linkages among these reserves is a conservation priority (Loucks et al. 2003).

In addition to creating new reserves, China has worked to increase and improve forested area outside reserves. Following extensive flooding in 1998, tied directly to deforestation, China implemented the Natural Forest Conservation Program to enhance forest cover throughout major river basins; this included a ban on logging in natural forests. Additionally, a “Grain-to-Green” policy has forced farmers to abandon agricultural fields on steep slopes and replant these areas with trees (for which they are given grain and cash subsidies). As a result of these policies, China has become first in the world in terms of forest area gained per year (FAO 2006). The suitability of many of these newly forested areas for pandas, though, is still questionable. Additionally, the rising pace of economic development, particularly in presently undeveloped areas, has created more road and hydro-power construction, causing more forest fragmentation.