Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area (IBA) is an area designated as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed by BirdLife International.
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IBAs are determined by an internationally-agreed set of criteria. Specific IBA thresholds are set by regional and national governing organizations. To be listed as an IBA, a site must satisfy at least one of the following rating criteria:
- A1. Globally threatened species
The site qualifies if it is known, estimated or thought to hold a population of a species categorized by the IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable. In general, the regular presence of a Critical or Endangered species, irrespective of population size, at a site may be sufficient for a site to qualify as an IBA. For Vulnerable species, the presence of more than threshold numbers at a site is necessary to trigger selection.
- A2. Restricted-range species
The site forms one of a set selected to ensure that all restricted-range species of an EBA or SA are present in significant numbers in at least one site and preferably more.
- A3. Biome-restricted species
The site forms one of a set selected to ensure adequate representation of all species restricted to a given biome, both across the biome as a whole and for all of its species in each range state.
- A4. Congregations
- i.This applies to 'waterbird' species as defined by Delaney and Scott [1] and is modelled on criterion 6 of the Ramsar Convention for identifying wetlands of international importance. Depending upon how species are distributed, the 1% thresholds for the biogeographic populations may be taken directly from Delaney & Scott, they may be generated by combining flyway populations within a biogeographic region or, for those for which no quantitative thresholds are given, they are determined regionally or inter-regionally, as appropriate, using the best available information.
- ii.This includes those seabird species not covered by Delaney and Scott (2002). Quantitative data are taken from a variety of published and unpublished sources.
- iii.This is modelled on citerion 5 of the Ramsar Convention for identifying wetlands of international importance. The use of this criterion is discouraged where quantitative data are good enough to permit the application of A4i and A4ii, .
- iv.The site is known or thought to exceed thresholds set for migratory species at bottleneck sites. [2]
- Al Shouf Cedar Nature Reserve, Lebanon
- Belum-Temengor, Malaysia
- Berlinguet Inlet, Nunavut, Canada
- Boundary Bay, British Columbia, Canada
- Cemlyn Bay, Wales
- Çiğli, Turkey
- Congaree National Park, South Carolina, USA
- Cousin Island, Seychelles
- Farne Islands, England
- Fowlsheugh, Scotland
- Hutovo Blato, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve, Oregon, USA
- Kaziranga National Park, India
- Kullaberg, Sweden
- Lake Žuvintas, Lithuania
- Leslie Street Spit, Ontario, Canada
- Ludaš Lake, Serbia
- Nigula Nature Reserve, Estonia
- Presque Isle State Park, Erie, Pennsylvania
- Presqu'ile Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
- Prince Edward Island National Park, Prince Edward Island, Canada
- Richardson Bay, California, USA
- Restigouche River, New Brunswick and Quebec, Canada
- Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
- The Skerries, Wales
- Tanjung Tuan, Malaysia
- Thane Creek, India
- Tussey Mountain, Pennsylvania, USA
- Tyuleniy Archipelago (Kazakhstan)
- Vanhankaupunginlahti, Helsinki, Finland
- Ynys Feurig, Wales
- Ythan Estuary, Scotland
- ^ Delaney and Scott(2002) Waterbird Population Estimates Third Edition, Wetlands International, Wagenigen, The Netherlands
- ^ BirdLife International, 2008,Global IBA Criteria, retrieved 2008-9-27
