What is a megadiverse country and examples

A megadiverse country is that in whose territory we find a large number of ecosystems. Megadiverse comes from biodiversity, therefore, we can say that megadiverse countries are those whose borders there is a huge variety of forms of lives, both plants or terrestrial and maritime animals.

But what does it mean that they have a lot of biodiversity? To get an idea, among all megadiverse countries they accumulate More than 70% of Earth’s biodiversity. Hence the enormous need to preserve and care for these natural spaces, whose importance for the balance of our planet is so great.

The Megadiverse countries They have things in common, then we explain 3 of its main features.

• They have forests, jungles, deserts, seas and mountainous areas, that is, very different ecosystems.
• When they are islands, they have a lot of fauna and their own flora that is not found in other places on the planet.
• They usually be very large countries, which allows them to cover very different territories with each other.

If you want to know more information about these countries, then we explain what are the characteristics of the megadiverse countries.

These are some of the characteristics that share the Megadiverse countries:

• Geographical position: Most are within the tropical area, that is where the largest biodiversity of the planet is located.
• Diverse landscapes: Diversity in landscapes, that is, mountains, seas, lakes, forests or jungles, causes a greater diversity of ecosystems.
• Separation: Many are islands or peninsulas, which gives them insulation that causes their own species. In other cases they have been isolated continents for a long time, as in the case of South America and North America.
• Large size: The larger the size of a country, the easier it is that there are many different species.
• Evolution: Many megadiverse countries are found in confluence areas in which regions are gathered with a different biological history.
• Culture: It must be clear that cultural development is much closer than the formation of most species. However, indigenous or aboriginal cultures and the domestication of certain species have led to improve the variety of its flora and fauna.

Yeah, Mexico is a megadiverse country. In fact, among its borders we find about 10% of the species around the world, many of them being endemic species. The biodiversity of Mexico is huge, it is the country with more reptile species in the world, the second with more mammals, the fourth with more amphibians and the fifth with more plants. If we all together, in the Aztec country we can find more than 100,000 species describedalthough in the subsoil, water and other sites could still be hundreds of thousands to discover.

All this makes it very necessary to follow environmental policies according to the importance of its biodiversity. That is why in recent years they have started certain policies to protect all its megadiversity. Some of the most important are the following:

• About 13% of the territory of Mexico, about 25 million hectares, are within the system of protected natural areas.
• Sustainable forestry is promoted with programs, certification of plantations and forests and reforestation activities.
• National strategies are formulated in different areas, such as plant conservation, the fight against invasive species or biodiversity.

But Mexico is not the only Megadiverse country, in this select group we find 16 more countries around the world. In the next section we talk about the 17 megadiverse countries of the planet.

The United Nations World Conservation Monitoring Center is the body that is responsible for classifying countries according to their level of biodiversity. This organism, following parameters that have to do with biodiversity and the quantity and difference of species that live in each country establish that there are 17 megadiverse countries: Australia, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, Venezuela, United States, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, South Africa, Congo and Madagascar.

Now that you know What are the megadiverse countrieswe will give you information about each of them:

• Australia: It has a huge amount of fauna, both at the terrestrial level and at the marine level. In addition, the fact that Australia is an island makes the vast majority of its species endemic, that is, they are only there.
• Brazil: The place where most of the Amazon jungle is housed is another example of a megadiverse country. It is estimated that between animals and vegetables, in that country we can find about 4 million species.
• China: Beyond the crowded cities of people, China is another example of a megafivel country in which we find a wide variety of ecosystems.
• Colombia: It is the country that has more species per square meter, in fact, there we can find about 19% of the planet’s animals.
• Ecuador: It is not only another example of a megadiverse country, but it is an example to follow in terms of environmental preservation.
• USA: Taking into account its immensity and the enormous variety of ecosystems, it is not surprising that it is within the megadiverse countries.
• Philippines: Like Colombia, it is another of the countries with the highest diversity rate for the surface it has. The fact that you form more than 700 islands, makes its jungles and marine fauna.
• India: It is another of the countries that has made a great effort to preserve its biodiversity, although it has often been late. An example of this is that we can find about 500 animal sanctuaries, 13 biosphere reserves and more than 20 animals.
• Indonesia: In this country we find many species of animals and flora that you will not find anywhere. In fact, only Australia surpasses it as a country with more endemic species.
• Madagascar: Did you know that in Madagascar there are more than half of chameleons species around the world? In addition, being an island makes many animals and plants that do not exist anywhere else in the world.
• Malaysia: It is another of the megadiverse countries, however, it suffers enormous deforestation, something that is endangering the survival of an animal as emblematic as the orangutan of Borneo.
• Mexico: As we have explained above, there we find about 10% of world species.
• Papua New Guinea: At the moment it is one of the megadiverse countries of the world, but taking into account that it is one of the countries in which it has been explored less, in the following decades we could see how infinity of plant and animal species are discovered.
• Peru: In this country we also find a part of the Amazon jungle that, in fact, is the most biodiversity area in the country.
• Congo Democratic Republic: When do you think of Africa, the desert comes to mind, right? Well, in the Congo we find one of the largest jungles in the world, only surpassed by the Amazon.
• South Africa: In addition to lions, hippos, hyenas and other characteristic animals of the savannah, South Africa stands out for being the home of more than 10% of plants on the earth.
• Venezuela: The last example of a megadiverse country is Venezuela, a country where you can find about 15% of the planet’s birds.

So you can observe the Magnitude of the biodiversity of these countrieswe leave you the information with the number of plant species, mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians of the world’s most megadiverse countries:

Brazil

• Vascular plants: 56,215
• Mammals: 648
• Birds: 1.712
• Reptiles: 630
• Amphibians: 779

Colombia

• Vascular plants: 48,000
• Mammals: 456
• Birds: 1,815
• Reptiles: 520
• Amphibians: 634

China

• Vascular plants: 32,200
• Mammals: 502
• Birds: 1,221
• Reptiles: 387
• Amphibians: 334

Indonesia

• Vascular plants: 29,375
• Mammals: 670
• Birds: 1,604
• Reptiles: 511
• Amphibians: 300

Mexico

• Vascular plants: 21,989
• Mammals: 564
• Birds: 1,123
• Reptiles: 864
• Amphibians: 376

Venezuela

• Vascular plants: 21,073
• Mammals: 353
• Birds: 1,392
• Reptiles: 293
• Amphibians: 315

Ecuador

• Vascular plants: 21,000
• Mammals: 271
• Birds: 1,559
• Reptiles: 374
• Amphibians: 462

Peru

• Vascular plants: 17,144
• Mammals: 441
• Birds: 1,781
• Reptiles: 298
• Amphibians: 420

Australia

• Vascular plants: 15,638
• Mammals: 376
• Birds: 851
• Reptiles: 880
• Amphibians: 224

Madagascar

• Vascular plants: 9.505
• Mammals: 165
• Birds: 262
• Reptiles: 300
• Amphibians: 234

Congo

• Vascular plants: 6,000
• Mammals: 166
• Birds: 597
• Reptiles: 268
• Amphibians: 216

Under the auspices of Mexico, during the February of the year 2002 the Cancun meetinga meeting in which representatives and ministers of the Environment of countries such as China, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Indonesia, India, Kenya, South Africa, Peru and Venezuela, in addition to Mexico.

This meeting was intended to address issues of importance in terms of biological conservation and genetic resources to which the international community did not pay attention. From this meeting, the Declaration of Cancun was made, through which the Group of related megadiverse countrieswhich encourages cooperation in common matters to promote biodiversity conservation.

In April of that same year, Malaysia and Bolivia were incorporated, and in June he did it. Philippines. At that time, the GPMA already represented near the 70% of all the planet’s biodiversity.

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