Vietnam has the highest biodiversity in the world

Vietnam is internationally recognized as one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world, with many types of forests, swamps, rivers and reefs . creating habitats for about 10 % of total species of birds and wild animals in the world.

Some precious birds are found in Vietnam (Source: Birdlife International)

Vietnam is recognized by the Wildlife Conservation Fund (WWF) to have three of more than 200 global ecological regions; Birdlife recognizes as one of five endemic bird regions; The World Conservation Organization (IUCN) recognizes there are 6 centers of plant diversity.

Vietnam is also one of eight "original seed centers" of many plants and animals such as dozens of breeds of cattle and poultry. Especially rice and potato sources, which are considered to be of Vietnamese origin, are the basis for improving the world's rice and food crops.

Vietnam's ecosystem is plentiful, including 11,458 animal species, 21,017 species of plants and about 3,000 species of microorganisms, many of which are used to provide genetic materials.

In the past 30 years, many plant and animal species have been added to the list of species of Vietnam such as 5 new species of saola, large gills, Truong Son, gray-shanked douc and Truong Son striped rabbit, 3 bird species The new species is the black-headed babbler, the Ngoc Linh babbler and the Kon Ka Kinh babbler, about 420 marine fish species and 7 marine mammals. Many other new species of reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates have also been described.

The map created by Birdlife International, an international organization for environmental protection, points out that some areas in North East Vietnam need to be protected by high biological diversity.Source: Birdlife International

In terms of plants, from 1993 to 2002, scientists recorded two more families, 19 genera and over 70 new species. The rate of discovering new species is especially high in Lan family with 3 new genera and 62 new species; 4 genera and 34 species were first recorded in Vietnam. The ceiling industry has 1 genus and 3 new species discovered for the first time in the world; 2 genera and 12 species are added to Vietnam's botanical list.

To protect and maintain this ecosystem, in recent years, Vietnam has increased investment in biological conservation programs and projects. According to the Vietnam Environment Report 2005, the total investment cost for biodiversity conservation in 2005 was approximately 51.8 million USD, 10 times higher than a decade ago.