The new study says the benefits of protecting giant pandas are far higher than the cost

team led by Chinese researchers found that the benefits of protecting giant pandas through the creation of nature reserves were 10 to 27 times the cost.
2010, ecosystem services in giant panda nature reserves were worth between $2.6 billion and $6.9 billion, according to a study published in the latest issue of the American journal
. In the same year, the total investment cost of giant panda protection was about 2. $5.5 billion, even under conservative algorithms, is only about one-tenth of the total.Wei Fuwen, author of the
paper and a researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that some critics believe that it is a waste of resources to invest in giant pandas, and that the study does not support this view, and that protecting giant pandas is of great value in ecosystem services.
By definition of the International Ecosystem Services Classification Framework, ecosystem services generate three values: the value of supply services, such as cultivation, grazing, water and logging for the local population;
researchers analyzed the available literature and calculated that the value of supply and adjustment services for the forests of the Giant Panda Nature Reserve in 2010 was 18. US$9.9 billion, taking into account only Chinese number of visitors to China from the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, with the total value of cultural services in 2010 at 7. $0.9 billion, with a combined value of about $2.6 billion. If the value of cultural services were to expand to the global population, the total value of ecosystem services for that year could reach $6.9 billion.
2014, China has established 67 panda nature reserves with an area of more than 3. 30,000 square kilometers, covering more than half of the panda's livable area.
researchers believe that if the area of nature reserves is expanded by 15% and the level of supply and adjustment services is increased by 15%, the input cost will increase to 2. $9.2 billion, and total revenue will increase to $32.2 billion. $200 million, with a higher ratio of benefits to costs.
also involved researchers from Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and other countries. (Source: Xinhua News Agency Zhou Zhou)