Some main geographical characteristics of Vietnam: -Vietnam extends more than 1,650 km from north to south, it’s altitude varies from sea level to a maximum of 3,143 m. -Three quarter of Vietnam is hilly or mountainous. Forest cover is about million ha (over 37 % of the total land area of the country). | Biodiversity in Vietnam Dang Thi An and Chu Thi Thu Ha Department of Environmental Biology. Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources. Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) - Vietnam has a dense river network: 2,300 rivers with a length over 10 km, 8 rivers have large basins of more than 10,000 km2. Lowland areas are fed by two major river systems: the Red River in the North and Mekong River in the South. - In Vietnam, there are over 3,260 km of coastline and more than 3,000 islands. Vietnam’s geographical conditions result in high variation in climate, soil and topography, and thus, a wide variety of ecosystems, each of which has its own flora and fauna. Some main characteristics of Biodiversity in Vietnam In 1992, the World Conservation Monitoring Center evaluated Vietnam as one of the 16 most biologically diverse countries in the world. Vietnam’s Biodiversity is characterized by : - Species diversity: about 11,458 species of fauna, 21,017 species of flora and .
