Laos is a country in and the only landlocked nation in mainland Southeast Asia, northeast of Thailand and west of Vietnam. It covers approximately 236,800 square kilometers in the center of the Southeast Asian peninsula and it is surrounded by Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, the People's Republic of China, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the global conservation organization, as priorities for conservation. According to WWF, an ecoregion is defined as a "relatively large unit of land or water containing a characteristic set of natural communities that share a large majority of their species dynamics, and environmental conditions". For example, based on their levels of endemism, Madagascar gets multiple listings, ancient Lake Baikal gets one, and the North American Great Lakes get none.
The Khorat Plateau is a plateau in the northeastern Thai region of Isan. The plateau forms a natural region, named after the short form of Nakhon Ratchasima, a historical barrier controlling access to and from the area.
The Annamite Range or the Annamese Mountains is a major mountain range of eastern Indochina, extending approximately 1,100 km (680 mi) through Laos, Vietnam, and a small area in northeast Cambodia. The mountain range is also referred to variously as Annamese Range, Annamese Mountains, Annamese Cordillera, Annamite Mountains and Annamite Cordillera. The name "Annam" is the Vietnamese pronunciation and terminology of Chinese: 安南, meaning "the tranquil south" referring to Vietnam. The French adopted the word and used "Annamese" or "Annamite" to refer to the Vietnamese.
The Northern Indochina subtropical forests are a subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of northern Indochina, covering portions of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, and China's Yunnan Province.
Nam Et-Phou Louey National Park is a protected area in northern Laos, covering 4,107.1 km2 (1,585.8 sq mi) in three provinces: Houaphan, Luang Prabang, and Xieng Khouang. It was designated a national park in 2019, and was previously designated a national protected area. The protected area included a 3,000 km2 (1,200 sq mi) core area where human access and wildlife harvest is prohibited and a 2,950 km2 buffer area where pre-existing villages are allocated land for subsistence living.
Salavan is a province of Laos, located in the south of the country. Its earlier name was Saravan which was changed by the Thais to Salavan in 1828. It was part of the Champasak Kingdom in an area known as Muang Mang inhabited by minorities of Mon-Khmer groups.
Champasak is a province in southwestern Laos, near the borders with Thailand and Cambodia. It is one of the three principalities that succeeded the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang. As of the 2015 census, it had a population of 694,023. The capital is Pakse, but the province takes its name from Champasak, the former capital of the Kingdom of Champasak.
The Luang Prabang montane rain forests ecoregion covers elevations over 800 meters in the Luang Prabang mountains that straddle the border between northern Thailand and north-central Laos, and the highlands that stretch eastward across north-central Laos. While much of the forest cover has been degraded, there are still large areas of relatively untouched forest.
The Northern Annamites rain forests ecoregion covers the rugged and relatively unexplored northern Annamite Mountains of central Laos and Vietnam. There are high numbers of endemic plant species, and the relative remoteness and isolation of the area supports many rare and endangered animals. Rainfall is somewhat less than the lowland rainforest of the lower elevations in Vietnam, and the temperatures slightly cooler due to the higher elevation.
The Tonle Sap freshwater swamp forests ecoregion covers the seasonally flooded forests surrounding Tonlé Sap, the largest lake in Cambodia, and the floodplains of its connections to the Mekong River. Over 35% of the ecoregion experiences flooding during the wet season.
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.
The Northern Thailand–Laos moist deciduous forests ecoregion follows the upper course of the Nan River in northern Thailand and the Mekong River in Laos. This area has the highest proportion of tree cover in Thailand, with many forests dominated by Teak. The river valleys have been under pressure from human use: agriculture, teak plantations, and hunting have reduce plant and animal presence.
The Eastern Java-Bali rain forests ecoregion covers the lowland areas of the eastern half of the island of Java, and the island of Bali, in Indonesia. This ecoregion is distinct from the Eastern Java-Bali montane rain forests, which exists at higher elevations where mountain forest habitat dominates. Very little of the natural lowland rainforest remains in its pre-human settlement state.
The Costa Rican seasonal moist forests ecoregion covers the Pacific Slope of the volcanic mountain range of northwestern Costa Rica and the extreme south of Nicaragua. The area has a distinct dry season during which the characteristic deciduous trees drop their leaves. The forests themselves have been highly degraded in the past by human conversion to agriculture and settlement. The Costa Rican capital city of San Jose is in the middle of this ecoregion.
The Miskito pine forests ecoregion covers lowland pine forests and savanna along much of the Mosquito Coast in northeastern Nicaragua and southeastern Honduras. Pines are adapted to grow in the poor soil, relative to the surrounding moist forest, and repeated burning have left one species – the Caribbean pine – dominant. Although the ecoregion receives high levels of rain, the hard soils, repeated burning, and exposure to hurricanes have left expanses of 'pine savanna' and seasonal wetlands. The area is thinly settled by humans and there is little crop agriculture.
The Trinidad and Tobago moist forests ecoregion covers most of Trinidad Island and Tobago Island near the coast of South America where the southeastern Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. Small portions of the islands around river estuaries and coastal lowlands are mangroves or dry forests. Species diversity is very high, in particular for plants and birds. Tobago, being much smaller, has fewer species.
