Current view: Text account
Site description (2009 baseline):
Site location and context
The IBA is located on the south-western boundary of Yunnan, in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Area which includes Jinghong, Menghai and Mengla counties. It has many wide valleys and basins, and is surrounded by low mountains. The climate is influenced by warm and moist oceanic winds from the Bay of Bengal, which allows the development of rainforest and monsoon forest.
Non-bird biodiversity: Nationally protected plants include Parashorea chinensis, Cycas siamensis and Alsophila spinulosa. Animals include Panthera tigris corbetti, Panthera pardus, Neofelis nebulosa, Hylobates leucogenys, Presbytis phayrei, Nycticebus coucang, Bos gaurus and Elephas maximus.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
Established as a nature reserve in 1981, and upgraded to a national nature reserve (241,775 ha) in 1986, which is divided into five patches of forest: Mengla (92,932 ha), Shangyong (30,538 ha), Menglun (11,242 ha), Mengyang (99,760 ha) and Mangao (304 ha). Xishuangbanna was designated in 1993 as a ‘Biosphere Reserve’ under UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Xishuangbanna (China (mainland)). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/xishuangbanna-iba-china-(mainland) on 22/11/2024.
