WWF Reports Discovery of 380 Species of Flora and Fauna in the GMS

A new World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report highlights the discovery of 380 new species of flora and fauna in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). The study, conducted in 2021 - 2022 by an international team comprising scientists and researchers in the subregion, has classified a discovery of 290 plants, 19 fishes, 24 amphibians, 46 reptiles, and 1 mammal.
This underscores the rich biodiversity in the GMS and demonstrates that the region continues to be a fertile ground for scientific exploration and a hotspot of species diversity, noted the WWF.
The WWF report emphasized the need for increased action and attention from government agencies, NGOs, and the general public to urgently invest time and resources into the conservation of the known and yet unknown species.
Warning of the threat of extinction among these species, Dr. Truong Q. Nguyen, Vice Director, Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Viet Nam Academy of Science and Technology, in his introduction of the report, underscored that rapid economic development and human population growth drive deforestation, pollution, and over exploitation of natural resources, worsened by the effects of climate change. The report called for more concerted, science-based, and urgent efforts to reverse the rapid biodiversity loss in the region.