Meinmahla Kyun Wildlife Sanctuary

The Site is a coastal wetland in the southern part of the Irrawaddy Delta, which is also an ASEAN Heritage Park. It supports one of the largest remaining mangrove areas of in the Delta, where mangrove ecosystems have declined due to activities including logging, fishing and development of shipping lanes. Now the mangrove species are being replaced by mangrove date palm (Phoenix paludosa). The Ramsar Site is of international importance for a number of reasons. It has a substantial carbon sequestration capacity, and so is important in mitigating global climate change. It also supports globally threatened species such as the critically endangered hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) and mangrove terrapin (Batagur baska). The latter is particularly significant for the Site because it is listed under the IUCN Red List as regionally extinct in Myanmar. Other threatened species include the endangered great knot (Calidris tenuirostris), Nordmann’s greenshank (Tringa guttifer), green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and dhole (Cuon alpinus). Vulnerable species include the Pacific ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus), lesser adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus) and the Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris). The Site is also the last estuarine habitat in Myanmar for the salt water crocodile (Crocodylus porosus). It holds significant cultural and historic value for the people of Myanmar, based on myths and pilgrimages which closely connect them to their environment.

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