Officials in northwest China's Shaanxi Province have outlined plans to improve panda protection in the coming five years.

"We will build five new nature reserves for panda protection in the Qinling Mountains, a major habitat of the rare animal," Sun Chengqian, deputy director of Shaanxi Provincial Forestry Department, told China Daily on Tuesday.

The newly designed nature reserves will enlarge protected living areas to 500,000 hectares from the present 180,100 hectares, and cover an estimated 80 per cent of panda habitats, Sun said.

The mountains are home to approximately 300 pandas.

"And the remaining 20 per cent of habitats, which are small and scattered around the Qinling Mountains, will be protected by 19 protection spots," the deputy director said.

The province will also improve and complete construction of its giant panda protection and management system, and build a panda information management and patrol inspection and monitoring system by the end of 2010.

"This will mean better protection for the rare animals and help enlarge their population," Sun said.

The Qinling Mountains, located in the centre of the province, are a major panda habitat and boast the top species density in China.

The animals here are a rare subspecies, different from those living in Sichuan and Gansu Provinces.

"Because of its comparatively small population, the Qinling panda needs more protection. The newly designed nature reserves are just one of our protection efforts, " Zhao Xuemin, vice-minister of Ministry of Forestry, said at a working conference held early this month in Xi'an, capital of the province.

Zhao also declared at the conference that after 20 years of effort, China's panda population in the wild had increased from 1,100 to 1,596, with 183 being artificially fed.

The area of protected habitats has increased from 1.4 million hectares to 2.3 million hectares.

(China Daily June 23, 2006)