Northern Indochina Forests

"This vast ecoregion transcends five countries, covering the subtropical forests in the highlands of northern Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, most of China’s Yunnan Province, and a sliver of northern Thailand. A highly incised and complex landscape of hills and river valleys extends south from the Yunnan Plateau into the middle catchments of the Red, Mekong, and Salween rivers . . . Over 180 mammal species are known from here, including globally important populations of the highly threatened Tonkin snub-nosed monkey and red panda. This ecoregion provides some hope to conserve the Indochinese tiger, which still holds on in northern Myanmar and Thailand. The bird fauna is even richer, with over 700 species, and includes several colorful and charismatic large birds, such as the Blyth’s tragopan, Temminck’s tragopan, ring-necked pheasant, Lady Amherst’s pheasant, blood pheasant, silver pheasant, Siamese fireback, plain-pouched hornbill, rufous-necked hornbill, and great hornbill . . . Although a large extent of unprotected forests still remain, most forests are degraded due to widespread swidden agriculture that has been practiced for centuries." Additionally, forests are also cleared for poppy cultivation and for timber", while the area's wildlife is threatened with illegal hunting.