| Ecoregion: Indochina mangroves | |
|---|---|
 Nypa fruticans in the delta of Mekong | |
 Ecoregion territory (in purple) | |
| Ecology | |
| Realm | Indomalayan |
| Biome | Mangrove |
| Geography | |
| Area | 26,936 km2 (10,400 sq mi) |
| Country | Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia |
| Coordinates | 10°00′N106°15′E / 10°N 106.25°E |
The Indochina mangroves are a large mangrove ecoregion on the coasts of Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia in Southeast Asia.
Mangrove forests occur on coasts that are regularly washed with saltwater by tidal movements. There are patches of mangrove throughout the region and there were once much more. Today the largest areas remain in the Mekong delta in U Minh district and other parts of Cà Mau province at the southern tip of Vietnam. There are smaller patches in Vietnam in Cam Ranh Bay in the south and in the Red River delta in the north. Much larger areas of mangrove habitat on the coasts of southern Vietnam including the Mekong and Red River deltas were affected by the Vietnam War when areas of mangrove were cleared or destroyed by bombing and the defoliant Agent Orange, while mangroves around Pattaya and in the Chao Phraya delta in Thailand and the Bay of Kompong Som in Cambodia have been cleared for agricultural and coastal development. [1]
The Indochina mangroves contain a diverse number of trees and other plants which vary according to proximity to the coast with the coastline trees being mainly Avicennia alba and the inland belt behind them, where the water is less salty consisting of Rhizophora apiculata and Bruguiera parviflora.
The remaining mangroves are important habitat for much wildlife, especially waterbirds such as lesser adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus), white-winged wood duck (Cairina scutulata) and spot-billed pelican (Pelicanus philippensis). Mammals of the mangroves include the tiger (Panthera tigris), the large Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus) and the siamang (Hylobates syndactylus). Reptiles found here include the water monitor (Varanus salvator), false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii) and the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus).
Mangroves everywhere are vulnerable to clearance for logging and for agricultural development, and in this region have been particularly affected by the Vietnam War damage, particularly America's chemical weapon of defoliants, the Rainbow Herbicides, most notably Agent Orange which destroyed and devastated entire mangrove forests.[ citation needed ] In Vietnam there has been a post-war program of replanting to try and revive mangrove habitats.
As of 2019 [update] in Myanmar, the cutting down of mangroves to turn into charcoal for sale in China and Thailand continues unabated. [2]
Cambodia is a country in mainland Southeast Asia. It borders Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, the Gulf of Thailand and covers a total area of approximately 181,035 km2 (69,898 sq mi). The country is situated in its entirety inside the tropical Indomalayan realm and the Indochina Time zone (ICT).
Vietnam is located on the eastern margin of the Indochinese peninsula and occupies about 331,211.6 square kilometres (127,881.5 sq mi), of which about 25% was under cultivation in 1987. It borders the Gulf of Tonkin, Gulf of Thailand, and Pacific Ocean, along with China, Laos, and Cambodia. The elongated roughly S shaped country has a north-to-south distance of 1,650 km (1,030 mi) and is about 50 km (31 mi) wide at the narrowest point. With a coastline of 3,260 km (2,030 mi), excluding islands, Vietnam claims 12 nautical miles as the limit of its territorial waters, an additional 12 nautical miles as a contiguous customs and security zone. It has an exclusive economic zone of 417,663 km2 (161,261 sq mi) with 200 nautical miles.
The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth-longest river and the third-longest in Asia with an estimated length of 4,909 km (3,050 mi) and a drainage area of 795,000 km2 (307,000 sq mi), discharging 475 km3 (114 cu mi) of water annually. From its headwaters in the Tibetan Plateau, the river runs through Southwest China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and southern Vietnam. The extreme seasonal variations in flow and the presence of rapids and waterfalls in the Mekong make navigation difficult. Even so, the river is a major trade route between Tibet and Southeast Asia. The construction of hydroelectric dams along the Mekong in the 2000s through the 2020s has caused serious problems for the river's ecosystem, including the exacerbation of drought.
The Mekong Delta, also known as the Western Region or South-western region, is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of south-western Vietnam of over 40,500 km2 (15,600 sq mi). The size of the area covered by water depends on the season. Its wet coastal geography makes it an important source of agriculture and aquaculture for the country.
Indo-Burma is a biodiversity hotspot designated by Conservation International.
The Greater Mekong Subregion, (GMS) or just Greater Mekong, is a trans-national region of the Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia. The region is home to more than 300 million people. It came into being with the launch of a development program in 1992 by the Asian Development Bank that brought together the six Asian countries of Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, and Vietnam.
The wildlife of Cambodia is very diverse with at least 162 mammal species, 600 bird species, 176 reptile species, 900 freshwater fish species, 670 invertebrate species, and more than 3000 plant species. A single protected area, Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, is known to support more than 950 total species, including 75 species that are listed as globally threatened on the IUCN Red List. An unknown amount of species remains to be described by science, especially the insect group of butterflies and moths, collectively known as lepidopterans.
The Southeastern Indochina dry evergreen forests are a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion of Indochina.
The Angolan Scarp savanna and woodlands is an ecoregion located on the coast of Angola, an area with a variety of habitats and rich in wildlife including many endemic birds and animals.
The Central African mangroves ecoregion consists of the largest area of mangrove swamp in Africa, located on the coasts of West Africa, mainly in Nigeria.
The Central Indochina dry forests are a large tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests ecoregion in Southeast Asia.
The Cardamom Mountains rain forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in Southeast Asia, as identified by the WWF. The ecoregion covers the Cardamom Mountains and Elephant Mountains and the adjacent coastal lowlands in eastern Thailand and southwestern Cambodia, as well as the Vietnamese island of Dao Phu Quoc.
The Burmese or Myanmar Coast mangroves are an ecoregion in Burma, Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh where there were once thick forests of mangroves but today most has been cleared, resulting in loss of habitat for wildlife.
The Vietnam War had a major and long-lasting impact on the environment of the countries affected. The environment of Vietnam was severely degraded by the use of defoliants, bombing and other military activities. North Vietnam utilized the geography and ecology of the region to conceal their activities and move resources, such as via the complex network of tunnels and paths in the Ho Chi Minh trail. In response, the United States developed and deployed technologies and campaigns to clear forests and destabilize soil, greatly impacting the environment. Over time, the long-term Agricultural productivity in parts of Vietnam was reduced by many herbicidal agents and bombing campaigns. The war has also been linked to extensive deforestation and influenced the hydrology of the Mekong region.
The Red River freshwater swamp forests ecoregion covers the freshwater portion of the Hong River delta in northern Vietnam. The ecoregion is separated from the sea by a thin coastal strip of the saltwater mangroves of the Indochina mangroves ecoregion. Very little of the little ecosystem remains; most of the delta has been converted to urbanization, industry, or agriculture. Less than 1% of the ecoregion is protected in significantly sized tracts.
The Tonle Sap-Mekong peat swamp forests ecoregion covers a patchwork of areas permanently inundated with fresh water along the Tonle Sap River and Mekong River floodplains in Cambodia and Vietnam. The terrain is mostly flat, with extensive agricultural fields, reed beds, and degraded shrub forest. Less than 10% of the region is in its original state, and less than 1% is protected. Habitat in the region is distinguished from the Tonle Sap freshwater swamp forests ecoregion that runs through the middle, as that ecoregion is only seasonally flooded.
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