While the flourishing Chinese wine market is good news for foreign
investors keen to get in on a slice of the action, China’s endangered giant
pandas are being put at risk by planned vineyard expansion in the Chinese provinces
of Shaanxi and Sichuan.
As reported on db.com, authorities
in Shaanxi plan to plant 18,000 hectares of vineyards, and similar schemes are
planned for Sichuan, putting the 1,600 wild giant pandas that inhabit the
provinces at risk. And while the Chinese government has set up reserves for
giant pandas, they don’t always keen inside them.
"Vineyards around a panda reserve can affect the animals. Pandas
move outside of reserves, so the forest outside is an important habitat. If forest
is cleared to plant grapes, there may be direct loss of panda habitat,"
climate change specialist Dr. Lee Hannah said, adding, “If grapes are grown on
land used for grazing, livestock may be displaced into panda habitats.”
Winemakers from France, Spain, Australia and the US are showing
increasing interest in the Sichuan capital of Chengdu as a spot for grape
growing. Meanwhile, the prefectures of Liangshan, Aba and Ganzi, all of which
are recognised as natural habitats for giant pandas, have also been earmarked
for future planting.
Aba plans to expand its vineyards six-fold to more than 6,600 hectares
by 2020 and convert more than 40,000 Tibetan farmers into vineyard workers. "We
will turn Aba into the Bordeaux of China," the Aba government said online.
In Liangshan, a government employee said that the creation of vineyards was at
the top of their agricultural agenda, and that they had signed contracts with overseas investors.
Despite the risk to the endangered species, a government employee in Danba
county, Ganzi, said that while the protection of giant pandas was important,
the benefits of planting and cultivating vineyards were “immediate” and “irresistible”.
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