The lifting of a dire threat from a much loved global icon would normally spark universal relief and widespread rejoicing. In the case of China’s giant panda, the government and people of Hong Kong would be entitled to raise a glass in a toast to their role in its conservation. But an international conservation body’s removal of the panda from the endangered species list has run into criticism for being premature – from experts in China.

According to the State Forestry Administration, the panda is not out of the woods yet. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature lifted its status to “vulnerable” after the wild population grew by 17 per cent over the last decade to more than 2,000. The decision is hailed by conservationists as encouragement for China to curb poaching and continue replanting bamboo forests that provide nearly all of the animals’ diet. Indeed, wildlife experts say saving the giant panda is all about restoring habitats, and that China has done well.

That is where Hong Kong comes in. Of the HK$9 billion donated by the government for reconstruction after the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake, HK$1.58 billion was spent on 23 projects in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Chengdu, including a new panda park. On the eighth anniversary of the disaster this year, Hong Kong let the provincial government spend the city’s residual donation of HK$226 million to further develop the reserve.