The dedicated Red Panda Network team monitors and tracks red pandas across more than one million acres of forest in Nepal. In 2007, the Red Panda Network created the world’s first community-based red panda population monitoring programme, called the Forest Guardian programme. Forest Guardians are local people, often from disadvantaged, rural communities, who are paid to monitor and protect red panda habitat, as well as educate local communities. This programme, which started with only 16 sixteen Forest Guardians, now has a national team of over 100 people across Nepal.

The red panda is considered Endangered under the IUCN Red List, with between 2,500 and 10,000 left in the wild. The biggest threat to red pandas is habitat loss, with rapid human population growth leading to deforestation and habitat fragmentation. Red pandas are also threatened by climate change, illegal poaching, livestock herding and free-roaming dogs, which can carry diseases.

The Red Panda Network’s successful reforestation programme has planted nearly 650,000 trees across Nepal, helping to connect red panda habitats and populations. In Nepal, red panda habitats are now fragmented into 400 small forest patches, most of which are not protected. This landscape-level reforestation programme also purchases private lands in critical habitat areas, while working with local communities to conserve restored habitats. In 2022 alone, the Red Panda Network planted 88,860 native tree seedlings, and restored 90 hectares of degraded red panda habitat.