Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information The site is important for numerous waterbirds, especially for beach-nesting Charadrius alexandrinus and Sterna albifrons and for wintering waders and duck, holding 20,000 or more wintering waterbirds on a regular basis. The reedbeds of the site are important for several nesting waterbird species, as well as for large numbers of migrating passerines during both autumn and spring migration.

Site description An extensive lagoon system with large areas of sandflats, mudflats and saltmarshes, located on the south coast of Portugal. The lagoons are protected from the open sea by a long, thin, discontinuous belt of sand-dunes.

Populations of IBA trigger species

Protected areas

Protected area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
Ria Formosa	Nature Park	17,901	protected area contained by site	17,664
Ria Formosa	Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar)	16,000	protected area contained by site	16,000
Ria Formosa - PTZPE0017	Birds Directive	23,538	is identical to site	23,296
Ria Formosa/Castro Marim - PTCON0013	Habitats Directive	17,520	protected area overlaps with site	13,427

Habitats

Land use

Management considerations There is a management plan (now at revision) for Natural Park, bur there is not any for Natura 2000 site. Tourists cause disturbance to birds, which can be moderately high locally, especially for beach-nesting species. The intensification of farming in the vicinity is increasing the flow into the lagoon of pollutants (herbicides, pesticides and nutrients), and is also using excessive amounts of groundwater, thus disturbing the water balance at the site. The bivalves and polychaete worms of the intertidal flats are very intensively exploited by man, thus reducing the food supply for some waterbird species. Natural erosion is an additional threat. Several thousand people live around the IBA, and numbers increase significantly during the summer months due to the influx of tourists.Water quality is affected by sewer emptying, and garbage and rubbish are commonly found along the area.

Protection status National Partial International High14,373 ha of IBA covered by Natural Park (Ria Formosa, 14,373 ha). 23,296 ha of IBA covered by Special Protection Area (Ria Formosa, 23,296 ha). 16,000 ha of IBA covered by Ramsar Site (Ria Formosa, 16,000 ha).

References Calado (1989), Ramos(1989), Batty (1992), Encarnação (1992, 1995), Farinha & Trinidade (1994), Pinto (1995), Grade (1996), Costa & Guedes (1996), Costa & Rufino (1997).

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Ria Formosa (Faro lagoon). Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 21/05/2013

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