Key species pinpoint key sites — Important Bird Areas

Keith Barnes/Tropical Birding A number of IBAs in Africa have been identified due to presence of globally threatened species such as the Shoebill Zoom In

Key species can be used to identify Important Bird Areas (IBAs) — sites that are critical for bird conservation. IBAs sustain bird species that are threatened, have restricted-ranges, are confined to a biome and/or congregate in large numbers. So far, more than 7,500 IBAs have been identified in 167 countries and territories.

Key species identify Important Bird Areas

When selecting sites for conservation networks, two characteristics are widely recognised as especially significant: vulnerability and irreplaceability. To identify such sites, we can use the presence of birds that are globally threatened and/or geographically concentrated in some way — through small ranges or congregatory habits, or restriction to a particular biome. This is the basis of BirdLife’s Important Bird Area (IBA) programme, which seeks to locate, document and protect networks of sites — areas that can be delimited and, potentially, managed for conservation — critical for the conservation of the world’s birds.

More than 7,500 IBAs have been identified

Important Bird Areas have already been identified in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East using a set of standardised, objective selection criteria. The process of identification is well underway throughout the Americas and has begun in Australia and the Pacific, Central Asia and the Antarctic. The IBA approach is also being extended and adapted for application to the oceans. So far, 6,460 globally significant IBAs in 167 countries and territories have been identified, with an additional 1,179 sites identified at the regional and sub-regional levels (see pdf case study, box 1).

Regional networks of IBAs cover no more than 7% of the land area

The proportion of sites qualifying under each of the four criteria varies between regions, reflecting differences in avifaunas. More than half of the 391 IBAs in Middle East are selected because they hold threatened species. Two-thirds of Africa’s 1,230 IBAs qualify for both threatened and biome-restricted species while the majority of Europe’s 2,187 IBAs of global significance are identified for threatened and congregatory species. Despite such regional variation, these key sites cover no more than 7% of the land area, a proportion that represents a realistic conservation goal (box 2).

Boxes: case studies and scientific analyses

Download SOWB pp.24–25 (PDF, 313 KB) containing the following:

1. To date, more than 6,400 IBAs of global significance have been identified in 167 countries and territories
IBAs of global significance identified

2. Numbers and types of IBAs vary between regions
Percentages of sites in Europe, the Middle East and Africa that meet the different IBA criteria