In 2004 Changqing Reserve undertook a
number of conservation-based community development programs,
supported by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The Reserve organised community patrol and anti-hunting units, and provided them with uniforms and GPS receivers for increased effectiveness at decreasing poaching. These units patrol the community forest to help conserve the giant panda habitat. In two of the local villages, the Reserve set up grain and medicinal herb process factories. All of the profits from the factories go to the patrol units.
Changqing Reserve has also provided small-scale loans to the community villages to cultivate Manchurian trout and Chinese medicinal herbs. The Reserve has built a clinic and fuel-saving stoves in the local villages. It has also helped the villages around the Reserve to restore bamboo and conifer forests in areas which were previously farmed.
These measures have helped to reduce commercial and illegal logging and hunting by introducing income-generating activities that do not destroy Giant Panda habitat.
The development of Ecotourism will create further employment opportunities within the local communities.
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Experience the REAL China, and help conserve Giant Pandas, at Changqing Nature Reserve!
