OVERVIEW OF VIETNAM'S BIODIVERSITY

February 2nd, 2024

Vietnam is located in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot - one of 30 areas with irreplaceable biodiversity in the world, 104 important biodiversity areas (KBA) and 6 global priority ecological regions.
To date, Vietnam has been internationally recognized as 11 world biosphere reserves, 9 Ramsar sites, 10 ASEAN heritage parks; An important waterbird migration area.
With 3 basic ecosystem groups: terrestrial ecosystems; Wetland ecosystem group (including inland wetlands and coastal wetlands) and marine ecosystem group, characterized by 9 basic forest ecosystems, 26 wetland types and 20 marine ecosystems , Vietnam is recognized as one of the countries with high biodiversity, with a diversity of natural ecosystems, biological species, rich and endemic genetic resources, and is one of the Centers for plant and animal genetic resources. Diverse local farming of the world.
Ecosystems with typical features of the tropical peninsula are home to many valuable endemic wild species, including species found nowhere else in the world. . To date, in Vietnam's biological world, about 62,600 species have been identified. Among the known species composition, the number of endemic species in Vietnam accounts for a fairly large proportion: about 30% of higher terrestrial plant species; About 58% of freshwater shrimp and crab species, 27.4% of freshwater mussels and snails, 4.6% of bird species and subspecies.
Ecosystem services bring direct benefits to people and contribute greatly to the economy, especially agricultural, forestry and fishery production; is the basis for ensuring national food security; maintaining genetic resources for creating livestock and crop breeds; provides materials for construction and is a source of medicinal herbs and food. Natural ecosystems with high biodiversity are also the foundation for the ecotourism industry. In addition to socio-economic and cultural values, ecosystems also provide many other important services: climate regulation, response to climate change through carbon storage, air filtration. and water, decomposing waste, mitigating the negative impacts of natural disasters such as landslides and storms and floods.