Wildlife

From megafauna like elephants and apex predators like tigers, to freshwater giants like the Mekong stingray and elusive endemics like the saola, the Greater Mekong region is home to an amazing diversity of wildlife, with new species being discovered and described every year.

But our planet’s wildlife populations have declined by more than 60% since 1970, and species are becoming extinct at an alarming rate.

Growing wealth among the middle class across the Greater Mekong and in neighboring China has resulted in increased demand for consumption of wildlife meat, parts and products. At the same time, agricultural expansion and infrastructure development is leading to the destruction of natural habitats which thousands of non-human species need to live. The dual threat of the wildlife trade and shrinking natural habitats is leading to drastic declines in the unique and irreplaceable biodiversity of the region.

To reverse this loss of nature and create a future where wildlife and people live in harmony, governments, the private sector, civil society organisations, and local communities must work together to take urgent and radical actions

Our flagship species

Asian Elephants

Less than 5,000 remaining in the wild in Greater Mekong

Saola

One of the world’s most recently described and rarest large mammals

Irrawaddy Dolphins

About 90 freshwater dolphins remain in the Mekong river in Cambodia and another 60 in the Irrawaddy river in Myanmar

Tigers

Less than 200 tigers left now across the Greater Mekong, having plummeted across the region with many local extinctions and three national-level extinctions in the past three decades

Primates

44 species occur in the Greater Mekong region, 90% of which are threatened with extinction as they are heavily traded for food, medicine and as pets

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Megophrys frigida, new species discovery 2020.

New Species Discoveries

An extraordinary 224 new species of vascular plants and vertebrate animals were discovered in the Greater Mekong region in 2020.

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What we are doing

To protect the plant, animal and fungal species, as well as the communities who depend on the ecosystem services they provide, we need to work together on the regional level.

PROJECTS