Malaysia is recognised as one of 12 megadiverse countries in the world, which harbour the majority of Earth’s species and high numbers of endemic species. This classification shows how a small number of countries holds a large portion of global diversity and so have a disproportionate responsibility in conserving and managing natural heritage sustainably.
Even though this country only has 0.2% of the world’s landmass, it contains around 20% of the world’s animal species. This makes Malaysia one of the richest countries in the world in terms of biodiversity per unit area, second only to Indonesia in South-East Asia.