An associate professor of environmental science on Monday said sustainable grazing practices backed by regulations and community involvement are vital for protecting giant wild panda habitats.

Binbin Li from Duke Kunshan University led a research project from July 2018 to May 2024 in China, quantifying the damage caused by livestock grazing on bamboo ecosystems and other vital vegetation.

"The problem is fragmentation. We have agriculture, cropland, linear infrastructure and also residency area, so that makes their habitat fragmented, and then a lot of the populations are so small, and we're worried about the local extinction of some of the small populations," she said.

"The key right now is how we can reconnect some of the habitat and also reduce degradation for example from livestock grazing or the other types of natural resource uses."

Li said that by assessing the impact of grazing on pandas, the study was able to identify suitable grazing areas and patterns, adding that these findings lay the groundwork for developing effective grazing management policies to safeguard panda habitats.

"There is a livestock ban in certain areas but we also provide composition from the government and to the local communities but not just composite them to sell their livestock but also provide some long-time subsidy for example give like job opportunities to hire them as rangers so then they can receive long-term incentives not to have livestock again," she said.

"This is key for a lot of conservation actions. How you can provide a long-term mechanism to incentivise local communities and to do conservation."

Li was speaking to reporters after the kick-off ceremony for the 29th Ocean Park Conservation Day under the theme "Safeguarding Wild Giant Pandas and Their Habitats".

In regards to the six pandas living in Hong Kong, she said pandas in captivity need to be given a lot of space and care, adding that she hopes the SAR's enthusiasm for the animals will drive conservation.

"You need to pay attention to the welfare of pandas in captivity and enough space, and then the air conditioning is good, especially during summer, because they love cool temperatures. I think captive pandas are very important as a window to understand what is going on with the wild pandas. So the key thing for captivity or zoos is to do education," she said.

"These six pandas, maybe they can attract more attention from the public and to conserve pandas in the wild because there are a lot more out there and they are facing more threats than the captive pandas."