The Mekong Drivers Partnership

 The Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot of the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS) is recognized as one of the most important global priorities for biodiversity conservation. It contains 14 of the Global 200 Eco-regions, 439 terrestrial Key Biodiversity Areas covering over 800,000 km2 of habitat in key conservation landscapes, and is ranked as one of eight hotspots likely to lose most of its species in the near future if current deforestation rates continue. Major conservation investments over the past 20 years have led to important achievements including the establishment of protected areas in high biodiversity landscapes and the stabilization, and even recovery, of populations of threatened species. However, more recently, over-exploitation of natural resources driven by land-grabbing for commercial agriculture and development of infrastructure projects, has emerged as a critical driver of deforestation, degrading the integrity of protected areas and threatening to undo the gains from these conservation investments. 

 

The WCS Mekong Drivers Partnership brings together governments, communities, and the private sector at multiple scales to eliminate the threats that are driving this loss of biodiversity and habitat, and to protect the natural resources people depend upon.

The WCS Mekong Drivers Partnership operates at multiple scales with multiple stakeholders, adopting the following key strategies in its integrated approach to deliver conservation gains in high biodiversity landscapes: