Meinmahla Kyun Wildlife Sanctuary
- Country:Myanmar
- Site number:2280
- Area:50,000 ha
- Designation date:02-02-2017
- Coordinates:15°50'N 95°15'E
Materials presented on this website, particularly maps and territorial information, are as-is and as-available based on available data and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Overview
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.
Administrative region:
The Ramsar site lies within Bogalay Township, Ayeyarwady Region, in the eastern Ayeyarwady delta region of Myanmar, about 140 km southwest of Yangon. It is roughly 46 km north-south and from 5 to 10 km across. The township main town of Bogalay lies 24 km
- National legal designation:
- Wildlife Sanctuaries and Reserves - Menmahlakyun Wildlife Sanctuary
- Regional (international) legal designations:
- Other international designation
- Last publication date:02-02-2017