When Your Home Becomes a Panda Park: The Opportunity and Upheaval of China's Giant Panda National Park

Abstract

In December 2016, China launched the Giant Panda National Park (GPNP). A massive ecological initiative aimed at safeguarding its beloved national symbol and international icon of conservation, the park marked an unequivocal win for giant pandas. But for the 100,000 people already living in and around the borders, the outcome was not as clear. The GPNP seeks to establish a harmonious balance between biodiversity protection and human development. But the vast amount of land covered by the park means not all places are equally primed to achieve that goal. A handful of communities have been designated as exclusive entrance communities, with lavish funding to become the face of the national park. In others, a persistent question simmers: Are pandas more important than people? Central to this story is how individuals are adapting to and reimagining their futures. Rather than a binary of winners and losers, the GPNP has sparked a wide range of human responses -showing that the path to a sustainable future between people and pandas is far from black and white.