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The Greater Mekong Subregion, or just Greater Mekong, is an international region of the Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia. The region is home to more than 300 million people and was designated with the launch of a development project formed in 1992 by the Asian Development Bank, that brought together the six states of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Yunnan Province, China.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Discovering the Greater Mekong )〕 Greater Mekong holds irreplaceable natural and cultural ritches and is considered one of the worlds most significant biodiversity hotspot. The region is a very important food provider and the site of many large-scale construction projects with social and economic implications.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Greater Mekong )〕 == Geology and biodiversity == The region has a diverse geographic landscape including massifs, plateaus and limestone karsts, lowlands, fertile floodplains and deltas, forests (evergreen and semi-evergreen, deciduous, dipterocarp, mangroves, and swamp), and grasslands. Water environments include fast-flowing rocky mountain streams and wetlands (such as Tonlé Sap in Cambodia).〔(First Contact in the Greater Mekong: new species discoveries ), World Wide Fund for Nature〕 The region's geographic variety and consequent variety of climatic zones supports significant biodiversity, with more than 1068 new species discovered during the last ten years. The geographic region encapsulates 16 of the WWF Global 200 ecoregions, and habitats for an estimated 20000 plant species, 1300 fish species, 1200 bird species, 800 reptile and amphibian species, and 430 mammal species. Notable species include the Javan rhino, Irrawaddy dolphins, and Mekong giant catfish (one of the largest freshwater fish).〔 The region's biodiversity is ranked as a top-five most threatened hotspot by Conservation International. The WWF cites accelerating economic development, population growth and increased consumption patterns as primary causes, including agricultural deforestation, logging and illegal timber trade, wildlife trade, overfishing, dam and road construction, and mining. The WWF also states that the region is particularly vulnerable to global climate change.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Greater Mekong Subregion」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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