Important Bird Area Indices: refining protected area coverage indicators for the 2010 target
 Javier Lascurain
BirdLife has an Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in Mexico which contains suitable habitat for Critically Endangered Belding's Yellowthroat.
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Important Bird Areas (IBAs) form a global network of sites critical for the long-term viability of naturally occurring bird populations, across the range of those bird species for which a sites-based approach is appropriate. They are identified nationally through multi-stakeholder processes using a set of objective, globally standardised criteria. IBAs are a major part of the larger network of key biodiversity areas - the most important sites for biodiversity conservation worldwide.
BirdLife is developing indices to show trends in measures of state, pressure and response at IBAs around the world, and to show trends over time in the protection of IBAs. These indicators will allow coverage and effectiveness of Protected Areas to be assessed against the priority set of target sites.
Refining protected area coverage indicators for the 2010 target
The number and size of protected areas (PAs) reflect measures taken to safeguard biodiversity. However, these simple indicators do not tell us how effective these measures are. For this, we need to know whether PAs are in the right places, and what their ecological condition is.
- Important Bird Area (IBA) indices are being developed to help overcome this limitation. These indices show the effectiveness of PAs in protecting globally important biodiversity.
- IBAs are sites of international significance for the conservation of the world's birds. They are identified nationally through multi-stakeholder processes using rigorous, standardized criteria based upon the presence of bird populations of species of global conservation concern, assemblages of restricted-range and biome-restricted species, and large concentrations of congregatory species.
- To date more than 10,000 IBAs have been identified worldwide.
- IBAs are an integral part of the key biodiversity area approach to site-based conservation. Since IBAs capture the bulk of diversity in many taxonomic groups, indices based on IBAs provide a good indicator of trends in the overall coverage of biodiversity by PAs.
- BirdLife is now rolling out a global programme to monitor the condition (state), threats (pressures) and conservation responses at IBAs using a simple standardized monitoring protocol.
A national case study of IBA indices for Kenya
A case study for the Kenya IBA network demonstrates how this approach generates indicators of progress towards the 2010 target at the national level.
- Monitoring IBAs shows trends in condition (state), threats (pressure) and conservation action (response). Simple quantitative measures for each site are combined to provide assessments of trends across IBA networks
- In Kenya, the average condition of IBAs has deteriorated since 1999. An increase in conservation responses led to a slight decrease in pressures by 2005, and further monitoring will show if this is effective in improving the condition of sites.
IBA indices for state, pressure and response during 1999-2005 at Kenyan IBAs (n=36). Source: Mwangi et al. submitted: Tracking trends in key sites for biodiversity: a case study using Important Bird Areas in Kenya. Bird Conservation International.
- This national example for Kenya suggests that the BirdLife IBA monitoring framework provides a simple but effective way of tracking trends in the state of IBAs, the pressures upon them, and the responses in place. The system is sensitive enough to detect differences between sites and over time, but simple enough to be implemented with little training and without sophisticated technology.
- The results provide vital information for managers of individual protected areas, management agencies responsible for suites of sites, and national governments, as well as providing key information to track progress in tackling the global biodiversity crisis.
- Read the State of the World's Birds case study.
Tracking the increase in protected area coverage over time
BirdLife and UNEP-WCMC are working together to develop an IBA Protection Index to show how the numbers of IBAs benefiting from legal protection have increased over time. This will demonstrate whether recent expansions of PA networks have been effective in capturing critical biodiversity, and refine understanding of the remaining gaps.
As a snapshot of the current situation, a comparison of the IBA and PA networks in Africa shows that 20% of the region's 225 globally threatened bird species occur only at unprotected sites. The continent's PA network fails to cover 43% of IBAs (529 sites). Read the State of the World's Birds case study.