Conservation Education

To promote public awareness of and action for wildlife and environmental conservation among all citizens, we inspire actions to preserve wildlife and their habitat. Today, zoological institutions consider conservation of wildlife to be the top priority. Successful conservation programs require the combination of good science and effective communication about needed human conservation behavior. Conservation scientists cannot save biodiversity on their own; they need all people to do their part for the biodiversity that sustains us. At the Chengdu Panda Base we believe that conservation and social scientists must work together to promote conservation.

Keeping the public aware of the status of endangered species, the necessity of conservation of natural habitats, human conservation behavior, the essential needs of our captive collection, and the enjoyment derived by interaction between humans and non-human animals are the most important educational functions of the Chengdu Panda Base.

Ours is a titled National Conservation Education Base. We are the first endangered species conservation institution in China to have a conservation education department and dedicated full-time educators, providing regular conservation programming. We are the first giant panda breeding institution in China to cooperate with field education experts from abroad, as well as the first to provide education in both urban and remote rural areas. We have designed programs for universities, middle schools, and primary schools, and set up young zoologist projects, volunteer and teacher workshops, and seasonal camps to help more people understand and protect giant pandas and other wildlife.