The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) will become the most important multilateral agreement to guide biodiversity conservation actions globally over the coming decades. An ecosystem goal and various targets for maintaining integrity, restoring degraded ecosystems, and achieving representation in conservation areas feature throughout the GBF. Here, we propose an operational framework that combines disparate information on ecosystem type, extent, integrity, levels of protection, and risk of collapse to support the identification of irreplaceable ‘Critical Ecosystem Areas’ (CEAs), to help advance these ecosystem targets. The framework classifies each component ecosystem based on its integrity, importance in ensuring no ecosystem collapse and its relative value to achieving representation if protected. These CEAs are immediate conservation opportunities, given that they achieve multiple ecosystem goals and targets in the GBF. We showcase its application using Myanmar’s forested ecosystems as a case study and argue that it could be immediately used across all terrestrial ecosystems.

Weaverbirds are a speciose group of colorful passerines inhabiting the Old World Tropics. Nevertheless, the Oriental weaverbirds（Ploceus spp.）, widespread across southern Asia, are much less diverse and restricted to a few ecological niches compared to their African counterpart. To investigate their phylogeography, we retrieved 101 samples of Baya Weaver（P. philippinus）, Streaked Weaver（P. manyar）, Black-Throated Weaver（P. benghalensis）and Asian Golden Weaver（P. hypoxanthus） along with Gen Bank sequences of Finn’s Weaver（P. megarhynchus）. We reconstructed the first molecular phylogeny based on a dataset consisting of both mitochondrial and nuclear genes, dating the most recent common ancestor of Oriental Ploceus to ～11 mya. Subsequent speciation appears to have been a combination of divergence within the Indian subcontinent and dispersal across a barrier situated between the Indian subcontinent and the Indochinese region, which provided habitats with a varying degree of isolations and ultimately promoted divergences in allopatry. Two descendants of the earliest nodes,P. megarhynchus and P. hypoxanthus, are both rare and local, often found near large river systems, which perhaps reflects niche conservatism and a lack of adaptive potential. The three smaller species are all widespread, common and less habitat specific. The most recent divergence, between western and eastern P. philippinus populations, is supported by both phylogenetic and morphological evidence, pointing toward limited gene flow between them.However, a zone of intergradation may exist in Myanmar and Brahmaputra flood plains, thus preventing a recommendation for species level recognition without further study.

Morphological traits have served generations of biologists as a taxonomic indicator, and have been the main basis for defining and classifying species diversity for centuries. A quantitative integration of behavioural characters, such as vocalizations, in studies on biotic differentiation has arisen more recently, and the relative importance of these different traits in the diversification process remains poorly understood. To provide a framework within which to interpret the evolutionary interplay between morphological and behavioural traits, we generated a draft genome of a cryptic Southeast Asian songbird, the limestone wren‐babbler Napothera crispifrons. We resequenced whole genomes of multiple individuals of all three traditional subspecies and of a distinct leucistic population. We demonstrate strong genomic and mitochondrial divergence among all three taxa, pointing to the existence of three species‐level lineages. Despite its great phenotypic distinctness, the leucistic population was characterized by shallow genomic differentiation from its neighbour, with only a few localized regions emerging as highly diverged. Quantitative bioacoustic analysis across multiple traits revealed deep differences especially between the two taxa characterized by limited plumage differentiation. Our study demonstrates that differentiation in these furtive songbirds has resulted in a complex mosaic of colour‐based and bioacoustic differences among populations. Extreme colour differences can be anchored in few genomic loci and may therefore arise and subside rapidly.

Myanmar is highly biodiverse, with more than 16,000 plant, 314 mammal, 1131 bird, 293 reptile, and 139 amphibian species. Supporting this biodiversity is a variety of natural ecosystems—mostly undescribed—including tropical and subtropical forests, savannas, seasonally inundated wetlands, extensive shoreline and tidal systems, and alpine ecosystems. Although Myanmar contains some of the largest intact natural ecosystems in Southeast Asia, remaining ecosystems are under threat from accelerating land use intensification and over-exploitation. In this period of rapid change, a systematic risk assessment is urgently needed to estimate the extent and magnitude of human impacts and identify ecosystems most at risk to help guide strategic conservation action. Here we provide the first comprehensive conservation assessment of Myanmar’s natural terrestrial ecosystems using the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems categories and criteria. We identified 64 ecosystem types for the assessment, and used models of ecosystem distributions and syntheses of existing data to estimate declines in distribution, range size, and functioning of each ecosystem. We found that more than a third (36.9%) of Myanmar’s area has been converted to anthropogenic ecosystems over the last 2-3 centuries, leaving nearly half of Myanmar’s ecosystems threatened (29 of 64 ecosystems). A quarter of Myanmar’s ecosystems were identified as Data Deficient, reflecting a paucity of studies and an urgency for future research. Our results show that, with nearly two-thirds of Myanmar still covered in natural ecosystems, there is a crucial opportunity to develop a comprehensive protected area network that sufficiently represents Myanmar’s terrestrial ecosystem diversity.

The Masked Finfoot Heliopais personatus is among Asia's most threatened waterbirds. The species formerly ranged widely across north-east India, Bangladesh and South-East Asia, but recent records are few. In this review, we aim to address the gaps in knowledge on the conservation status and ecology of the Masked Finfoot by (1) synthesizing recent information on its occurrence in all range states, (2) re-estimating the global population based on best guesses of national populations, and (3) identifying priority conservation actions. Based on a combination of our survey data (Bangladesh) and best-guess estimates from key sites, we estimate the current population at 108-304 individuals, far lower than the last estimate of 600-1,700 individuals in 2009. Our estimate of population size and rate of decline indicates that Masked Finfoot should be uplisted to Critically Endangered. Masked Finfoot may now breed only in Bangladesh and Cambodia, and there have been no records within the past five years in Malaysia and Thailand, where it once occurred regularly, despite a marked increase in observer effort. Habitat loss and disturbance is the single most important threat to the Masked Finfoot (and many riverine waterbird species), given that low-lying, forested wetlands across South-East Asia are increasingly encroached upon by human activities, or are cleared. There is an urgent need to re-survey areas where it was formerly known, especially in Myanmar. All remaining known breeding populations must be adequately protected or it may become Asia's next avian extinction.

Morphological traits have served generations of biologists as a taxonomic indicator, and have been the main basis to delineate species for museum taxonomists for centuries. Widespread awareness of the importance of behavioural characters, such as vocalizations, has arisen much more recently, and the relative importance of these different traits in the speciation process remains poorly understood. To shed more light on the interplay between morphological and behavioral traits in the speciation process, we generated a draft genome of a cryptic Southeast Asian songbird, the Limestone Wren-babbler Napothera crispifrons, and re-sequenced whole genomes of multiple individuals of all three traditional subspecies and a distinct leucistic population that had previously been misinterpreted as a plumage polymorphism. We demonstrate strong genomic and mitochondrial divergence among all three taxa, pointing to the existence of three species-level lineages. Despite its great phenotypic distinctness, the leucistic population was characterized by shallow genomic differentiation from its neighbor, with only a few localized regions emerging as highly-diverged. Quantitative bioacoustic analysis across multiple traits revealed deep differences especially between the two taxa characterized by limited plumage differentiation. Our study demonstrates that speciation in these furtive songbirds is not governed by the evolution of marked color differences, but is regulated by an interplay between color and bioacoustic traits. Extreme color differences can be anchored in few genomic loci and may therefore arise and subside rapidly.

Jerdon’s Babbler Chrysomma altirostre is a threatened Oriental grassland specialist passerine heavily affected by habitat loss. Its now-relictual range spans from Pakistan to Myanmar covering three poorly-studied subspecies. Our study of subspecific differentiation revealed limited range-wide mitochondrial divergences, suggesting that mountain ranges and other geographic barriers may not have been insurmountable obstacles to inter-subspecific Pleistocene connectivity of this highly specialized grassland bird. For the westernmost subspecies scindicum, we report on phenotypic differentiation consistent with Gloger’s Rule, and ecomorphological adaptations to arid environments requiring increased mobility.

Effective conservation planning needs to consider the threats of cropland expansion to biodiversity. We used Myanmar as a case study to devise a modeling framework to identify which Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) are most vulnerable to cropland expansion in a context of increasingly resolved armed conflict. We studied 13 major crops with the potential to expand into KBAs. We used mixed-effects models and an agricultural versus forest rent framework to model current land use and conversion of forests to cropland for each crop. We found that the current cropland distribution is explained by higher agricultural value, lower transportation costs and lower elevation. We also found that protected areas and socio-political instability are effective in slowing down deforestation with conflicts in Myanmar damaging farmland and displacing farmers elsewhere. Under plausible economic development and socio-political stability scenarios, the models forecast 48.5% of land to be converted. We identified export crops such as maize, and pigeon pea as key deforestation drivers. This cropland expansion would pose a major threat to Myanmar's freshwater KBAs. We highlight the importance of considering rapid land-use transitions in the tropics to devise robust conservation plans.

We carried out bird surveys along the Chindwin River, in the Chin and Naga Hills, and Htamanthi and Kyauk Pan Taung Wildlife Sanctuaries in western Myanmar during 2012 and 2013. The survey area covered parts of the central, north, west and south-west ornithological regions of Myanmar as defined by Robson (2013). During these surveys we recorded 424 species of which one, nine and 31 were new records for central, south-west and west Myanmar, respectively. We also recorded 16 Near Threatened, five Vulnerable and one Endangered species, suggesting that these areas are important for conservation in Myanmar. We recommend that an additional protected area be established in the Chin and Naga Hills of western Myanmar to further safeguard biodiversity.

Political and economic transitions have had substantial impacts on forest conservation. Where transitions are underway or anticipated, historical precedent and methods for systematically assessing future trends should be used to anticipate likely threats to forest conservation and design appropriate and prescient policy measures to counteract them. Myanmar is transitioning from an authoritarian, centralized state with a highly regulated economy to a more decentralized and economically liberal democracy and is working to end a long-running civil war. With these transitions in mind, we used a horizon-scanning approach to assess the 40 emerging issues most affecting Myanmar's forests, including internal conflict, land-tenure insecurity, large-scale agricultural development, demise of state timber enterprises, shortfalls in government revenue and capacity, and opening of new deforestation frontiers with new roads, mines, and hydroelectric dams. Averting these threats will require, for example, overhauling governance models, building capacity, improving infrastructure- and energy-project planning, and reforming land-tenure and environmental-protection laws. Although challenges to conservation in Myanmar are daunting, the political transition offers an opportunity for conservationists and researchers to help shape a future that enhances Myanmar's social, economic, and environmental potential while learning and applying lessons from other countries. Our approach and results are relevant to other countries undergoing similar transitions.

Myanmar offers unique opportunities for both biodiversity conservation and foreign direct investment due to projected economic growth linked to natural resource exploitation. Industrial-scale development introduces new land uses into the landscape, with unknown repercussions for local communities and biodiversity conservation. We use participatory mapping of 31 communities, focus groups in 28 communities, and analyses of forest cover change during 2000–2010 using MODIS vegetation continuous fields images, to understand the social and environmental impacts of gold mining and agricultural concessions in Myanmar’s Hukaung Valley (~21,800 km2). Local communities, particularly the poorest households, benefit from work and trade opportunities offered by gold mining and agricultural companies but continue to depend on forests for house construction materials, food, and income from the sale of forest resources. However, gold mining and agricultural concessions reduce tree cover, potentially reducing access to forest resources and further marginalizing these households. Our analyses do not provide evidence that long-term resident communities contributed to forest cover loss between 2000 and 2010. We argue that landscape management, which recognizes local community rights to customary community use areas, and appropriate zoning for commercial land uses and protected areas could contribute to both local livelihoods and protect biodiversity throughout Myanmar during economic growth.

Abstract The Taninthayi Nature Reserve Project (TNRP) has been operating in southern Myanmar since 2005. TNRP involves payments from three companies to support the creation and on-going management of a protected area as compensation for potential impacts to biodiversity from the construction and operation of three gas pipelines. This public-private partnership is unique in Myanmar and could form the basis of a model which can be applied to other developments in the country. We reviewed relevent literature and interviewed staff and stakeholders involved with the development and implementation of the TNRP in order to understand the model, identify some key lessons. As a framework for comparison the model was reviewed against current leading practice, primarily the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standard 6 (PS6), and the Business and Biodiversity Offets Program (BBOP) Standard on Biodiversity Offsets. This review revealed that the project has broadly met its stated goals and objectives: The companies have met their financial commitments.Stakeholder criticism of pipeline biodiversity impacts has been limited.A protected area has been established and managed since 2005, with socio-economic development programmes delivered to surrounding communities.The capacity of government staff involved in the TNRP has been improved. The TNRP was not originally developed to be in alignment with modern standards and the TNRP is not an offset. The TNRP thus does not meet current mitigation or offsetting best-practice in many areas. Our review does, however, highlight key lessons learned for developments to limit their impact on biodiversity and manage the associated risks effectively: Impact assessments should thoroughly analyse direct and indirect impacts to biodiversity.The mitigation hierarchy should be followed during the construction and operation of infrastructure.Should offsets be required, it is necessary to quantify biodiversity losses from development impacts and gains from conservation activities in order to identify how much compensation is enough.Monitoring of actions on the ground is the only way to determine their success in mitigating residual impacts to biodiversity.

Species identification has traditionally relied on morphology. However, morphological conservatism can lead to a high incidence of cryptic species, as characters other than morphological ones can be biologically important. In birds, the combined application of bioacoustic and molecular criteria has led to an avalanche of cryptic species discoveries over the last two decades in which findings of deep vocal differentiation have usually been corroborated by molecular data or vice versa. In this study, we use genome-wide DNA data to uncover an unusual case of cryptic speciation in two species within the South-east Asian Streak-eared Bulbul Pycnonotus blanfordi complex, in which both morphology and vocalizations have remained extremely similar. Despite a considerable pre-Pleistocene divergence of these two bulbul species, bioacoustic analysis failed to uncover differences in their main vocalization, but examination of live birds revealed important differences in eye color that had been overlooked in museum material. Our study demonstrates that genome-wide DNA data can be helpful in the detection of cryptic speciation, especially in species that have evolved limited morphological and behavioral differences.

High levels of species richness and endemism make Myanmar a regional priority for conservation. However, decades of economic and political sanctions have resulted in low conservation investment to effectively tackle threats to biodiversity. Recent sweeping political reforms have placed Myanmar on the fast track to economic development—the expectation is increased economic investments focused on the exploitation of the country's rich, and relatively intact, natural resources. Within a context of weak regulatory capacity and inadequate environmental safeguards, rapid economic development is likely to have far-reaching negative implications for already threatened biodiversity and natural-resource-dependent human communities. Climate change will further exacerbate prevailing threats given Myanmar's high exposure and vulnerability. The aim of this review is to examine the implications of increased economic growth and a changing climate within the larger context of biodiversity conservation in Myanmar. We summarize conservation challenges, assess direct climatological impacts on biodiversity and conclude with recommendations for long-term adaptation approaches for biodiversity conservation.

The White-winged Duck faces a high risk of global extinction in the wild in the near future. It was recorded from two regions of Laos during 1992-95. Records from six localities on the Nakai Plateau (Khammouan Province, central Laos) indicated at least nine individuals were present, and, including unsurveyed areas, the population may occupy six to 12 locations, each with one or two individuals. Fifteen adults and one brood of three young were seen at scattered sites in the southern provinces of Champasak and Attopu. Local reports suggest that the total number may be two or three times as large. Populations in both regions are in remote parts of large blocks of flatland forest. The Nakai population was mainly seen along rivers 20-30 m wide, whilst birds in the southern region were seen on shallow pools and small streams. Some observations of behaviour are presented. To date, opportunistic hunting has probably had the biggest detrimental effect on the species. Other developments, such as human population growth, road-building and hydro-electric dam-construction will reduce the available habitat and further increase hunting pressure. Prospects for conservation are discussed.