Assessment of Plant Species Diversity and Wildlife in Pindaya Township, Shan State, Myanmar

Myanmar is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots; however, the diversity is rapidly decreasing because of deforestation, shifting cultivation, population growth, increased resource utilization, and similar factors. For this reason, the ongoing ICIMOD REDD+ Project started in March 2016 aiming to strengthen the capacity of the government staff as well as other relevant stakeholders and to develop instruments in preparation for REDD+ Readiness by undertaking and identifying gaps in the readiness phase. Forest Department (FD) and ICIMOD: REDD+ implementation programmes have been recognizing sustainable forest development, biodiversity conservation, social safeguard, and local livelihood enhancement. Species diversity takes a critically important role in all ecosystems. Habitat loss, forest degradation, deforestation, and land use changes are main factors for biodiversity loss. Biodiversity conservation is one of the main activities of the project, so this study is designed to record the distribution and abundance of native flora and wildlife, particularly birds and butterfly diversity.