Red Panda Network
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Mission Statement
Red Panda Network is committed to the conservation of wild red pandas and their habitat through the education and empowerment of local communities.
About This Cause
We are committed to protecting wild red pandas and preserving their habitat through the empowerment of local communities by adaptive community-‐based research, education, forest protection and restoration, and sustainable livelihood improvement. We develop country-‐specific programs that will become locally managed and self-‐sustaining within 5 years after operation has begun. We have initiated our programs in Nepal and will incrementally duplicate our efforts in all red panda range countries, which include India, China, Bhutan, and Myanmar. In 2006 RPN created Project Punde Kundo, the world’s first community-based monitoring program of red panda and their habitat. In this program, we train and employ local forest users called Forest Guardians who monitor red panda populations and habitat. Our Forest Guardian program is one example of many of our livelihood improvement initiatives that provide opportunities for red panda stewardship and ensure that our conservation efforts support local people and are supported by the people. RPN’s other long-term objectives include: • Minimizing conversion of eastern Himalayan broadleaf and conifer forests to pasture and farmland; • Identifying and preserving unprotected red panda “hotspots” (i.e., areas within red panda range countries having intact red panda habitat that house viable populations of 100 individuals or more); • Continuing to build an anti-poaching network made up of local stakeholders including Forest Guardians. They patrol red panda habitat, remove traps and snares, and report poaching activity to enforcement agencies. • Assisting communities in devising socially responsible alternatives that are culturally and environmentally sensitive (sustainable livestock management practices, organic farming etc); and • Increase environmental awareness and appreciation of the fragile eastern Himalayan broadleaf and conifer ecoregion and its wildlife among local villagers, decision makers, and government officials. The Panchthar-‐Ilam-‐Taplejung (PIT) corridor in eastern Nepal has been identified as a red panda hotspot. Our immediate goal is the creation of the PIT Red Panda Protected Forest, which will be the world’s first protected area dedicated to red pandas.