The Dry Forests Ecoregion is characterised by low elevation, a strongly monsoonal climate, a high frequency fre regime, a high herbivore biomass and a relatively low human population density. As recently as the mid-20th Century, the Dry Forests supported some of the most diverse and abundant megafaunal communities in Asia.

In recent decades however, the Dry Forest Ecosystem and the species within it have come under increasing threat. Rapid development and limited planning throughout the region have resulted in large scale conversion of forest and wetland habitats, and species loss. Within this ecoregion, the Korat plateau in Thailand has been almost entirely converted for agriculture.

In Laos, which retains a large proportion of the remaining plateau, the demand for cash-crops is propelling its conversion, and where it remains as forest, unsustainable logging, over hunting, over harvesting of non-timber forest products and burning to provide fresh growth for livestock are all leading to habitat degradation.