Environment

Conservation Education in China: an interview with Kasen Whitehouse, of the Panda Breeding Center in Chengdu

Interview by Mark Hiew

This post is part of an occasional series of interviews with those working on development and sustainability issues in China, particularly southwestern Sichuan province.

Kasen Whitehouse is a 24-year-old American working in Chengdu at the Panda Breeding Center. Originally from New York, he previously researched panda hormone and reproductive behavior at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington D.C. before coming to Chengdu in 2006 on a four month exchange program at the Breeding Center. He moved back to Chengdu more permanently in 2007 and now works at the Breeding Center on conservation education. I recently spoke to Kasen about the challenges of conservation work in China, the current state of the Giant Panda and his thoughts on the future of environmental sustainability in China.

ResponsibleChina: A lot of people are familiar with the plight of pandas in Sichuan at an abstract level, but less might know exactly how critical their plight stands as of this moment. What could you tell us about the current situation as it stands, both in the wild and with centers such as your own right now?

Kasen Whitehouse: Pandas are still on the brink, with only 1500 in the wild. There are presently about 250 in captivity. The Panda [conservation] community sees 300 as a sustainable number–it provides a stable population where they can continue to be bred, with a broad genetic pool, breeding 5 or 6 per year instead of 20. We can then focus on other pressing concerns, such as education, conservation and reintroduction.

Kasen says he is confident of reaching sustainability. The last two years have seen a “panda boom” of sorts– eight were born last year, and eight this year at the Chengdu Breeding Center alone. The the major panda centers are located in Chengdu and Wolong, a Sichuan town northeast of Chengdu. China is the only country that can legally ‘own’ a panda.

RC: Before your current position, you were conducting more research-oriented panda work at the National Zoo. Can you explain what it was you were studying there?

KW: I was doing hormone and reproductive behavior amongst captive pandas. The main goal was to find out when male pandas want to breed. I would take urine and blood samples for hormone levels to find out when they were optimal for breeding, and measured sperm quality for artificial insemination.

It’s hard to measure the ratio of natural versus artificial insemination, partly because there are only three days in a year when female pandas can become pregnant.

RC: Some within the conservation movement fear that the panda represents the fickle nature of conservation marketing: that it’s only because the panda is so cute that we empathize with it, much more than we might with less aesthetically pleasing but equally endangered creatures, which caricaturizes or reduces the movement. Here in Chengdu, the panda logo is used to sell everything, going well beyond tourism to products like panda waste. Do you agree with such comments?

KW: Everybody would love to have people be empathetic towards an animal like the praying mantis, but unfortunately this isn’t the case. Several hundred million dollars have been given to the general conservation movement because of giant pandas. It’s a hard judgment to make: if it weren’t for pandas, who’s to say other species wouldn’t have died out by now. Whatever can be done to get money–whether for conservation, research, etc.–should be done. If it involves using pandas as a hook, then do it. If anybody can come up with an ingenious way to make insects more appealing, then they should do it. But if using pandas is the best option at the moment, then we should take full advantage of it.

RC: Groups like Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots seem to be quite popular as extracurricular groups within primary and middle schools around Chengdu. Do you think that these conservation groups are having a significant impact on students, and are they taking these messages to heart? Moreover, do you feel like current conservation education efforts are inspiring the next set of Chinese conservationists to create a sustainable China, or more to provide extra padding to their university applications?

KW: It doesn’t seem like students are truly concerned, but you have to imagine some would be. The Chinese population doesn’t seem as active; they don’t have as much motivation to take personal measures for sustainable living. They’re doing things from a self-interested mindset; [most Chinese] are not using coal or electricity because they want to save money, not out of concern for energy use. The goal is to open people’s eyes, but some don’t seem as easy to open as people might hope. But it’s not much better in the US–Chinese have much less of a carbon footprint than Americans. It’s more up to the government to be more active in leading the people in environmental change.

RC: In many parts of the world, China included, environmental conservation is often seen as standing in natural opposition to economic development. Is that still a dominant view here, and have you seen any efforts or discussion regarding ways to break down this binary in order to find more conciliatory approaches to conservation?

KW: There is some natural conflict between prosperity and [conservation]; as of right now I think its necessary. But because China’s economy has grown so big, they can make huge changes that previously may not have been possible.

Kasen cited electric scooters as a model example of successful government involvement in environmental efforts. Electric scooters are now so popular in China compared to gas scooters, in large part through government support, including subsidies for makers and dealers of electric bikes. They successfully replaced less environmentally friendly gas scooters. This might be possible with other transportation options, such as cars.

RC: What is the most difficult aspect of your job?

KW: Probably business culture differences: it’s unclear exactly what “No” means in various contexts, and other general language differences. I get along really well with Chinese people and want to work with them in the future, but a lot of other foreign people don’t really get along with the culture. It’s also a partially run government program–things don’t always add up, and it can feel a bit sketchy. This is the same everywhere you go, including the National Zoo, though a bit more evident here. If there’s a problem, it takes several weeks and a lot of effort to get anything changed. They may have some program or theory that has been done for a while, but when they find it’s not right, it takes longer to change.

RC: Finally, people must surely want to know: what’s the fuzziest moment you’ve ever had with a panda? And are their personalities as lazy and placid as we hold them to be?

KW: If you go to the zoo and see a tiger sleeping, you’ll see that all mammals tend to be lazy and placid, not just pandas. When young, though, they have a lot of energy: they climb trees, wrestle, do back flips, or run around an enclosure at full speed for half an hour.

His proudest moment? Kasen got to hang out and take pictures in a center yard with Jingjing, a mascot of the upcoming Olympics, who was less than a year old at the time.

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