Conservation is never black and white, not even when it comes to saving pandas. There are fewer than 1,600 pandas left in the wild today and half of them live outside of protected areas. They share land with some 300,000 people and are scattered across forest fragments throughout the Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces of Southwest China.

To help pandas survive and recover, their forest habitats must be protected, connected, and managed in a way that allows for panda health and reproduction, as well as human growth and well-being. Particularly in light of the current humanitarian crisis following the May 12 earthquake in China and a series of tragic aftershocks, it is critical that our conservation strategies support, benefit, and create opportunity for local communities.

CI and our partners are laying the groundwork for a new Panda Survival Plan that will engage Chinese communities in saving and protecting their signature species and lush landscapes. It requires the protection of all known panda habitat in China and the connection of key areas using at least 12 new conservation corridors. We also will put forth a comprehensive plan for panda guardians and population monitoring to ensure the number of these slow-reproducing mammals increases.

Without your support and immediate conservation action, pandas could forever disappear from the wild … but what kind of world would that be for future generations? Learn more about what we can all do to support China and save pandas.