China seeks help to restore panda habitat: ADB

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

MANILA (AFP) — China is seeking outside help to save the Qinling mountains, home of the giant panda, a national symbol that is threatened with extinction, the Asian Development Bank said Wednesday.

China's Shaanxi province has applied for a loan to finance a conservation project for an area that is home to about 300 giant pandas and other plants and animals threatened with extinction, according to documents released by the lender.

Loan details were not disclosed.

The 458-square-kilometre (177-square-mile) area, considered an "internationally important biodiversity hotspot," has been degraded by inappropriate farming, logging, overuse of natural resources, destructive mining, and decades of pollution from solid waste and agriculture, the bank said.

...