Bartek Kuzia / Flickr BirdLife, through its IBA programme, has developed a mechanism for identifying priority sites for biodiversity conservation. Zoom In

Improving efficiency in monitoring Africa’s IBAs

27-02-2009

It is taken as given that Africa is well endowed with rich biodiversity. Increasingly, national governments, NGOs and other stakeholders are making concerted efforts to protect it.  However, Africa is a vast continent and hence investments of limited resources in conservation work need to be targeted to those areas where they will deliver the highest possible returns.

BirdLife, through its Important Bird Areas (IBA) programme, has developed a mechanism for identifying priority sites for biodiversity conservation.  In Africa this has resulted in the selection of 1,230 IBAs critical for the conservation of birds and other biodiversity in the region.

However, it is not enough just to know where these sites are; action needs to be taken to ensure that they are managed such that they retain their importance for biodiversity.  These actions, by state actors, private sector and local communities, need to be based on the correct understanding of the threats to these IBAs.  Since such threats are dynamic, it is important to have an effective monitoring system that generates information rapidly and accurately.

“The paper proposes at least a partial solution to one of the biggest barriers to effective conservation of biodiversity in Africa” —Dr Julius Arinaitwe, Regional IBA Programme Manager for BirdLife in Africa

Unfortunately, in most countries in the region, organisations involved in management of Africa’s biodiversity often lack the financial and other resources to monitor effectively even well-known high priority sites.  As a result, conservationists in Africa are always searching for more efficient and inexpensive approaches that will help to deliver effective biodiversity management. That is why a recently published paper which offers the prospect of enhanced efficiency in the monitoring of IBAs has been welcomed by the BirdLife Partnership in Africa.

The paper, titled ‘An assessment of land cover and threats in Important Bird Areas in Africa’ and published in the BirdLife’s journal Bird Conservation International looks for patterns between the presence of particular kinds of threats at IBAs and the characteristics of the sites, including land cover, human population density, projected human population growth and habitat types. 

“The correlations described here between land cover and threats could be used to improve monitoring efficiency and identifying the correct strategies appropriate to monitoring threats faced by specific IBAs”, said Dr Graeme Buchanan, RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) and lead author of the paper.

“It is anticipated that this pioneering work on improved monitoring for Africa’s IBAs will have application across BirdLife’s IBA programme worldwide” —Dr Lincoln Fishpool, BirdLife’s Global IBA Programme Coordinator

Noting that “…the most prevalent threats to IBAs involve changes in land cover that could be detected from satellites”, the authors go on to suggest “…remote sensing could play an important role in the monitoring of African IBAs”. Further, the authors indicate that this approach could potentially allow monitoring of a greater number of sites than is feasible by conventional, ground-based approaches.

This paper suggests that development of the concept of monitoring using remote sensing information, together with good data on correlates of threats, such as projected human population growth, could be used to identify sites and habitats where specific interventions are urgently needed.

“The paper proposes at least a partial solution to one of the biggest barriers to effective conservation of biodiversity in Africa - the timely detection of threats and their extent and severity of their impacts”, says Dr Julius Arinaitwe, the regional IBA Programme Manager for BirdLife in Africa.  “As the methodology advanced in the paper relies on remote sensing, conservation recommendations can be developed even for areas that are inaccessible due to civil conflict, lack of infrastructure, remoteness or difficult terrain”.