Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs): the development and characteristics of a global inventory of key sites for biodiversity

Abstract

SummaryImportant Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) are sites identified as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations on the basis of an internationally agreed set of criteria. We present the first review of the development and spread of the IBA concept since it was launched by BirdLife International (then ICBP) in 1979 and examine some of the characteristics of the resulting inventory. Over 13,000 global and regional IBAs have so far been identified and documented in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems in almost all of the world’s countries and territories, making this the largest global network of sites of significance for biodiversity. IBAs have been identified using standardised, data-driven criteria that have been developed and applied at global and regional levels. These criteria capture multiple dimensions of a site’s significance for avian biodiversity and relate to populations of globally threatened species (68.6% of the 10,746 IBAs that meet global criteria), restricted-range species (25.4%), biome-restricted species (27.5%) and congregatory species (50.3%); many global IBAs (52.7%) trigger two or more of these criteria. IBAs range in size from < 1 km2 to over 300,000 km2 and have an approximately log-normal size distribution (median = 125.0 km2, mean = 1,202.6 km2). They cover approximately 6.7% of the terrestrial, 1.6% of the marine and 3.1% of the total surface area of the Earth. The launch in 2016 of the KBA Global Standard, which aims to identify, document and conserve sites that contribute to the global persistence of wider biodiversity, and whose criteria for site identification build on those developed for IBAs, is a logical evolution of the IBA concept. The role of IBAs in conservation planning, policy and practice is reviewed elsewhere. Future technical priorities for the IBA initiative include completion of the global inventory, particularly in the marine environment, keeping the dataset up to date, and improving the systematic monitoring of these sites.

A flexible tool to prioritize areas for conservation combining landscape units, measures of biodiversity, and threats

“…However, while some global spatial layers are easily accessible (such as in our case), they might not be as available, or accurate depending on the country or data of interest. For instance, while KBAs in Australia have been identified, mapped, and their level of threat assessed (Bird-Life Australia 2017), other countries are still in the process of identifying their KBAs, particularly in marine habitats, and thus some important areas might still be missing (Donald et al 2018). To prevent biases in the identification of priority areas for conservation, it is thus important to combine multiple data sources and evaluate the weight assigned to each one based on the known data accuracy.…”

Conservation of vertebrates and plants in Uganda: Identifying Key Biodiversity Areas and other sites of national importance

“…Since 2004, the conservation community has been going through a process to agree criteria to identify Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs). These criteria build upon the IBAs Programme of BirdLife International which was initiated in the 1970s (Donald et al, ). KBAs are globally important sites for the persistence of biodiversity because they hold significant numbers of one or more species of conservation concern.…”

Conservation of vertebrates and plants in Uganda: Identifying Key Biodiversity Areas and other sites of national importance

“…These criteria build upon the IBAs Programme of BirdLife International which was initiated in the 1970s (Donald et al, 2018). These criteria build upon the IBAs Programme of BirdLife International which was initiated in the 1970s (Donald et al, 2018).…”

“…Since 2004, the conservation community has been going through a process to agree criteria to identify Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs). These criteria build upon the IBAs Programme of BirdLife International which was initiated in the 1970s (Donald et al, 2018). KBAs are globally important sites for the persistence of biodiversity because they hold significant numbers of one or more species of conservation concern.…”