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TRANSCRIPT
An Introduc+on to the China/UK Giant Panda Project
Meet the Panda Team:
1Social Studies -‐ Second Level I can discuss the environmental impact of human ac+vity and suggest ways in which we can live in a more environmentally-‐responsible way. SOC 2-‐08a
Suggested Ac?vity: Inves?gate Global Sustainable Community Ini?a?ves and RZSS Conserva?on Programmes Aims • To find out how RZSS are contribu+ng to the global giant panda conserva+on effort. • To understand how habitat loss has led to giant pandas being classed as Endangered. • To find out about organiza+ons that are helping to develop sustainable community ini+a+ves. • To understand that many rural communi+es around the world are poor and they rely on the land to
help them survive. • To research and discuss some of the sustainable community ini+a+ves that have been set up globally. • To research the conserva+on programmes carried out by RZSS. • To think of ways to help support the organiza+ons that are spearheading conserva+on programmes
around the world. • To think about ways to make your own school and local community more sustainable.
Suggested Learning Framework • Watch Lesson S+mulus – Meet the Panda Keeper to find out more about giant pandas and how
RZSS is contribu+ng to the global giant panda conserva+on effort. • Giant pandas are classed as Endangered on the IUCN red List of Threatened Species. This is because
much of their habitat, along with their main food source, has been destroyed over the last 40 years. cn Read Background Notes for Teachers – Giant Panda Habitat Loss to find out more.
• Many organiza+ons, such as Act for Wildlife led by Chester Zoo, are working closely with local Chinese
communi+es to help protect and manage forests and develop sustainable community ini+a+ves that will ul+mately protect the habitats of many endangered species. Find out more about this at hWp://www.acYorwildlife.org.uk/china/china?gclid=CPad6-‐ikhsECFSXKtAodyiIA2A
• Educa+on, awareness and sustainable community ini+a+ves will help local communi+es in the Sichuan Forest area reduce the environmental impact of their ac+vi+es. This will ul+mately help protect local habitats and wildlife. However, the communi+es of Sichuan Province are poor and they rely on the land to provide an income to help them survive. It’s a very tricky balancing act and they are by no means the only communi+es impac+ng the global environment. Cont:
Suggested Learning Framework Cont: Cont: • Ask pupils to research what a ‘Sustainable Community’ is and discuss some of the sustainable
community ini+a+ves that have been set up, not only in China, but around the globe. hWp://www.sustainable.org/
• Ask pupils to research, and feedback to others, some of the conserva+on programmes carried out by
RZSS. hWp://www.rzss.org.uk/conserva+on-‐programmes
• Ask pupils to think of ways they might help and support organiza+ons that are trying to educate communi+es about the environmental impact of human ac+vity.
• Discuss ways of making your own school and local environment more sustainable.
hWp://www.suschool.org.uk/
Background Notes for Teachers This series of ac+vi+es will help young people understand and appreciate the dangerous consequences human ac+vi+es have on our environment. They will inves+gate the development of sustainable communi+es and understand that this is one way we can reduce, and possibly reverse, the impact of previous and current behaviour to ensure a healthy environment for future genera+ons. Sustainable communi+es are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of exis+ng and future residents, are sensi+ve to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. They are safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run, and offer equality of opportunity and good services for all. Sustainable communi+es: • Ac+vely seek to minimise climate change through energy efficiency and the use of renewables • Protect the environment, by minimising pollu+on on land, in water and in the air • Minimise waste and dispose of it in accordance with current good prac+ce • Make efficient use of natural resources, encouraging sustainable produc+on and consump+on • Protect and improve bio-‐diversity (e.g. wildlife habitats) • Enable a lifestyle that minimises nega+ve environmental impact and enhances posi+ve impacts (e.g.
by crea+ng opportuni+es for walking and cycling, and reducing noise pollu+on and dependence on cars)
• Create cleaner, safer and greener neighbourhoods (e.g. by reducing liWer and graffi+, and maintaining pleasant public spaces).
Pupils will also find out about how, through research and conserva+on projects, RZSS contributes to the management and conserva+on of many threatened species, habitats and communi+es around the world and find out how they can help to support RZSS in their work.
An Introduc+on to the China/UK Giant Panda Project
Meet the Panda Team: 1
Background Notes for Teachers Giant Panda Habitat Loss The giant panda’s mountainous bamboo forest habitat once covered vast areas of China, northern Vietnam and northern Burma. Now, fragments of forest can only be found in a few isolated mountain ranges in Gansu, Shaanxi and the Sichuan Provinces of south-‐central China. Habitat loss, and the subsequent loss of their primary food source -‐ bamboo, is undoubtedly one of the major reasons for the dwindling numbers of giant pandas in the wild. A typical pair of breeding pandas needs a minimum area of around 30km2 of bamboo forest to support them, but logging has destroyed much of their original habitat. In the Sichuan Province alone the panda’s habitat shrank by 50% between 1974 and 1989. In 1998 the Chinese government banned logging but up un+l that +me large areas of natural bamboo forest were cleared for +mber, fuel wood, infrastructure for a growing popula+on and land for hydropower development. Use of the land for agriculture also had a major effect on the giant panda’s habitat and food source. Bamboo only grows at al+tudes of between 500m and 3,100m. Unfortunately, much of the lower land u+lized by the giant panda has been claimed for agriculture. This in effect has confined most of the panda’s habitat to al+tudes greater than 1,400m. As pandas do not hibernate, this has caused major problems for them, as they are unable to retreat to lower levels during the cold winter months. Three-‐quarters of all wild pandas now live in nature reserves – but despite this, they’re s+ll endangered. Nearly half of all wild pandas were lost between the early 1970s and the late 1990s – mainly owing to habitat destruc+on and poaching. Habitat loss and fragmenta+on are s+ll the main threats today. Giant pandas are doing their bit to reinstate their habitat and keep it healthy. By spreading seeds in their droppings all around the forest – they help vegeta+on to spread and grow and this in turn helps the forest thrive.
An Introduc+on to the China/UK Giant Panda Project
Meet the Panda Team: 1
The giant pandas habitat, seen here as red pockets of bamboo forest, is now restricted to a few isolated mountain ranges in south-‐central China.