THE GREATER MEKONG REGION

The Greater Mekong harbours a trove of plant, animal and fungal species, including four of the world’s ten largest freshwater fish, the endangered tiger, the Asian elephant, and several endemic birds and mammals. The diverse landscapes of the Greater Mekong are made up of a variety of natural biomes, including dry deciduous forests, dense wet evergreen rainforests and limestone karsts, providing diverse habitats for thousands of species. The number of new species of plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, fish and amphibians discovered and described in the region over 20 years alone exceeded 2,500.5 The discovery of the saola in the Annamite mountain range was described as one of the most remarkable large mammal discoveries of the last 70 years.

Dawna Tenasserim Landscape

Legend

WWF primate sites Primate hot spots Protected areas Landscapes Capital cities Major rivers Country boundaries

Central Annamites Landscape

Eastern Plains Landscape

These incredible species and extensive natural habitats share the Greater Mekong with sprawling metropolises, large-scale hydropower dams, mines and transportation infrastructure, and over 200 million people. Enormous economic development activities that have resulted in the destruction of nature make conservation work in the region challenging but of urgent importance.6 The loss of forests and wetlands to agriculture and human settlements, as well as to mining and infrastructure projects, in the second half of the 20th century have made Southeast Asia the most threatened region globally for mammals, and the region’s land vertebrates the most affected by hunting and capture for trade.7, 8, 9

The pressures humans are placing on the wildlife of the Greater Mekong is particularly devastating for primates. In the recent updates to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of threatened species, a quarter of the primates in the region, at 11 out of 44, were classified as Critically Endangered, and about half, 21 out of 44, were listed as

Sunda slow loris Nycticebus coucang © Mikaail Kavanagh / WWF

Endangered. Only four out of the 44 species are not considered threatened, although three are listed as Near Threatened. The newly described Popa langur has not yet been Red List assessed but has been proposed as Critically Endangered.4 The latest Red List assessments show elevated extinction risk for a quarter of the primates compared to the previous assessments, while the rest showed no reduction in their extinction risk. Such statistics point to a bleak future for the many species of primates that occur in the Greater Mekong. Yet, the knowledge and alarm created by these recent Red List assessments also provide an opportunity for furthering conservation.

With urgent and concerted conservation efforts, we can protect the incredible diversity of primates and the ecological functions they perform, ensuring that the biological legacy of the region is sustained for future generations.