[1][6] In the decades leading to the plans, China's giant panda habitats had been fragmented by human activity, natural disasters, and climate change.
This scattered giant panda populations into roughly 30 isolated groups, located across mountain ranges in the western provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu.
The national park reconnects these populations by combining 67 existing natural reserves and protected areas into a single space.
[1][2][3] The national park's main purpose is to ensure the giant panda's long-term survival by diversifying the gene pool.
[1][3] It allows pandas to cross provincial boundaries and roam more freely, so that they can choose from a greater variety of mates, thus increasing the species' genetic diversity.