Protected area gap analysis of important bird areas in Tanzania

Analyses of gaps in protected area (PA) coverage of species distributions have been carried out extensively for the past two decades, aiming to better locate new PAs and conserve species. In this study, progress to close gaps in the protection of the Important Bird Areas (IBAs) of Tanzania is assessed between 2002 and 2009, with a detailed GIS analysis from 2007 to 2009. Remaining gaps are ranked according to biological factors such as numbers of red list and restricted range avian species and social pressures such as human population, agriculture and density of the road network. Results show that there has been a 5.3% increase (7615.1 km²) in protection of IBAs between 2007 and 2009. Of the 27 remaining IBA protection gaps, three are of high, nine of medium and fifteen of low priority for action. The current IBA ‘gap area’ of 17,133.3 km² contains around 26% forest, 13% shrubland, 9% grassland, 36% wetland and 12% agricultural land. This analysis provides a simple template for defining where further action to protect remaining IBA sites in Tanzania would lead to enhanced conservation of avian biodiversity in that country and provides a methodology for analysis leading to conservation action elsewhere in Africa.     

Evaluating the effectiveness of conservation site networks under climate change: accounting for uncertainty

We forecasted potential impacts of climate change on the ability of a network of key sites for bird conservation (Important Bird Areas; IBAs) to provide suitable climate for 370 bird species of current conservation concern in two Asian biodiversity hotspots: the Eastern Himalaya and Lower Mekong. Comparable studies have largely not accounted for uncertainty, which may lead to inappropriate conclusions. We quantified the contribution of four sources of variation (choice of general circulation models, emission scenarios and species distribution modelling methods and variation in species distribution data) to uncertainty in forecasts and tested if our projections were robust to these uncertainties. Declines in the availability of suitable climate within the IBA network by 2100 were forecast as ‘extremely likely’ for 45% of species, whereas increases were projected for only 2%. Thus, we predict almost 24 times as many ‘losers’ as ‘winners’. However, for no species was suitable climate ‘extremely likely’ to be completely lost from the network. Considerable turnover (median = 43%, 95% CI = 35–69%) in species compositions of most IBAs were projected by 2100. Climatic conditions in 47% of IBAs were projected as ‘extremely likely’ to become suitable for fewer priority species. However, no IBA was forecast to become suitable for more species. Variation among General Circulation Models and Species Distribution Models contributed most to uncertainty among forecasts. This uncertainty precluded firm conclusions for 53% of species and IBAs because 95% confidence intervals included projections of no change. Considering this uncertainty, however, allows robust recommendations concerning the remaining species and IBAs. Overall, while the IBA network will continue to sustain bird conservation, climate change will modify which species each site will be suitable for. Thus, adaptive management of the network, including modified site conservation strategies and facilitating species' movement among sites, is critical to ensure effective future conservation.     

The Important Bird Areas Programme in Africa: an outline

Bennun, L. & Fishpool, L. 2000. The Important Bird Areas Programme in Africa: an outline. Ostrich 71 (1 & 2): 150–153.

BirdLife International works to conserve the world's birds at the levels of species, sites and habitats. The Important Bird Areas (IBA) programme is a process of setting site-based priorities for birds based on information about species' distribution and numbers. The African IBA programme started in 1993, building on similar successful programmes in Europe and the Middle East. Important Bird Areas are selected according to internationally agreed criteria based upon the presence of globally threatened species, species of restricted range, biome-restricted species assemblages and concentrations of numbers.

In Africa, a continental directory of sites is scheduled for publication in 2000, and work is underway to identify and document IBAs across the continent and its associated islands. In 18 countries so far, the process of compiling information is being combined at a national level with strengthening the capacity for research and action, and building effective structures (especially NGO-Government linkages) for advocacy and action. The resulting inventories can be used in numerous ways to prioritise, inform and stimulate conservation action at local and national levels.     

Ensemble models predict Important Bird Areas in southern Africa will become less effective for conserving endemic birds under climate change

Aim  To examine the impacts of climate change on endemic birds, which are of global significance for conservation, on a continent with few such assessments. We specifically assess projected range changes in relation to the Important Bird Areas (IBAs) network and assess the possible consequences for conservation.
Location  South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland.
Methods  The newly emerging ensemble modelling approach is used with 50 species, four climate change models for the period 2070–2100 and eight bioclimatic niche models in the statistical package biomod . Model evaluation is done using the receiver operating characteristic and the recently introduced true skill statistic. Future projections are made considering two extreme assumptions: species have full dispersal ability and species have no dispersal ability. A consensus forecast is identified using principal components analysis. This forecast is interpreted in terms of the IBA network. An irreplaceability analysis is used to highlight priority IBAs for conservation attention in terms of climate change.
Results  The majority of species (62%) are predicted to lose climatically suitable space. Five species lose at least 85% of their climatically suitable space. Many IBAs lose species (41%; 47 IBAs) and show high rates of species turnover of more than 50% (77%; 95 IBAs). Highly irreplaceable regions for endemic species become highly localized under climate change, meaning that the endemic species analysed here experience similar range contractions to maintain climate niches.
Main conclusions  The South African IBAs network is likely to become less effective for conserving endemic birds under climate change. The irreplaceability analysis identified key refugia for endemic species under climate change, but many of these areas are not currently IBAs. In addition, many of these high-priority areas that are IBAs fall outside the current formal protected areas network.     

Birdlife International's Important Bird Areas Programme in Morocco

Magin, C. 2000. Birdlife International's Important Bird Areas Programme in Morocco. Ostrich 71 (1 & 2): 175–176.

BirdLife International's Important Bird Areas programme (IBA) was launched in Morocco in 1995 by a steering committee comprised of three national NGO's, representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, the University of Montpelier and BirdLife International. Subsequently the programme's implementation has been overseen by the BirdLife Secretariat. It will result in the publication of a national IBA inventory and the elaboration of plans to promote the conservation of priority IBAs. The selection of IBA sites is discussed and three examples of Moroccan IBAs are given.     

How well do Important Bird Areas represent species and minimize conservation conflict in the tropical Andes?

Where high species richness and high human population density coincide, potential exists for conflict between the imperatives of species conservation and human development. We examine the coincidence of at‐risk bird species richness and human population in the countries of the tropical Andes. We then compare the performance of the expert‐driven Important Bird Areas (IBA) scheme against a hypothetical protected‐areas network identified with a systematic reserve selection algorithm seeking to maximize at‐risk bird species representation. Our aim is to assess the degree to which: IBAs contain a higher richness of at‐risk species than would be expected by chance, IBAs contain more people than would be expected by chance, and IBAs are congruent with complementary areas that maximize species representation with an equivalent number of sites. While the correlation of richness and population was low for the region as a whole, representation of all at‐risk bird species required many sites to be located in areas of high human population density. IBA sites contained higher human population densities than expected by chance (P < 0.05) and were markedly less efficient in representing at‐risk bird species of the region than sites selected using the reserve selection algorithm. Moreover, overlap between IBAs and these latter sites was very limited. Expert‐driven selection procedures may better reflect existing sociopolitical forces, including land ownership and management regimes, but are limited in their ability to develop an efficient, integrated network of sites to represent priority species. Reserve selection algorithms may serve this end by optimizing complementarity in species representation among selected sites, whether these sites are adopted independently or as a supplement to the existing reserve network. As tools of site selection, they may be particularly useful in areas such as the tropical Andes where complex patterns of species disjunction and co‐occurrence make the development of representative reserve networks particularly difficult. Furthermore, they facilitate making spatially explicit choices about how reserve sites are located in relation to human populations. We advocate their use not in replacement of approaches such as the IBA initiative but as an additional, complementary tool in ensuring that such reserve networks are developed as efficiently as practically possible.     

Trends in forest condition,threats and conservation action as derived from participatory monitoring in coastal Kenya

The coastal forests of Kenya are conservation priorities hosting high levels of biodiversity. Monitoring of biodiversity in these forests is therefore necessary to understand and reverse negative trends in good time. Using the Important Bird Area (IBA) monitoring framework, a participatory approach, state (habitat condition), pressure (threats) and response (conservation action) indicators of twelve coastal Kenya forest IBAs were assessed from 2004 to 2011. Trends for these indicators were assessed at six sites for which sufficient data existed: Arabuko‐Sokoke, Dakatcha Woodlands, Gede Ruins, Lower Tana River, Shimba Hills and Taita Hills, and baselines were described for remaining six. Changes were always small, but state deteriorated in Gede, Lower Tana and Shimba Hills, remained the same (unfavourable) in Arabuko‐Sokoke and Dakatcha, and improved in Taita Hills. Pressure reduced in Arabuko‐Sokoke, Dakatcha and Taita Hills, deteriorated in Lower Tana and Shimba Hills and remained the same (medium) in Gede. Response improved in Dakatcha, remained the same (medium) in Shimba Hills, and deteriorated in the rest. As there was an apparent overall deterioration in the forests assessed, improved management of the protected sites and increased conservation action through community engagement around protected areas and within the nonprotected IBAs are recommended.     

Protecting important sites for biodiversity contributes to meeting global conservation targets

Protected areas (PAs) are a cornerstone of conservation efforts and now cover nearly 13% of the world's land surface, with the world's governments committed to expand this to 17%. However, as biodiversity continues to decline, the effectiveness of PAs in reducing the extinction risk of species remains largely untested. We analyzed PA coverage and trends in species' extinction risk at globally significant sites for conserving birds (10,993 Important Bird Areas, IBAs) and highly threatened vertebrates and conifers (588 Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, AZEs) (referred to collectively hereafter as 'important sites'). Species occurring in important sites with greater PA coverage experienced smaller increases in extinction risk over recent decades: the increase was half as large for bird species with>50% of the IBAs at which they occur completely covered by PAs, and a third lower for birds, mammals and amphibians restricted to protected AZEs (compared with unprotected or partially protected sites). Globally, half of the important sites for biodiversity conservation remain unprotected (49% of IBAs, 51% of AZEs). While PA coverage of important sites has increased over time, the proportion of PA area covering important sites, as opposed to less important land, has declined (by 0.45-1.14% annually since 1950 for IBAs and 0.79-1.49% annually for AZEs). Thus, while appropriately located PAs may slow the rate at which species are driven towards extinction, recent PA network expansion has under-represented important sites. We conclude that better targeted expansion of PA networks would help to improve biodiversity trends.     

BioBanking: an environmental scientist’s view of the role of biodiversity banking offsets in conservation

Offsets, first formalised in the United States of America in the 1970s for wetland mitigation, are now widely used globally with the aim to mitigate loss of biodiversity due to development. Embracing biodiversity offsets is one method of governments to meet their commitments under the Millennium Development Goals and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Resource extraction companies see them as a method of gaining access to land, while the community may perceive them as a way of enhancing environmental outcomes. In New South Wales, Australia, BioBanking legislation was introduced in late 2006 with the aim of ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity associated with development, particularly expanding urban and coastal development. The strengths of the legislation are that it aims to enhance threatened species conservation, and raise the profile of conservation of threatened species and habitats. Weaknesses include (1) the narrowness of the definition of biodiversity; (2) the concepts are based on a flawed logic and immature, imprecise and complex science which results in difficulties in determining biodiversity values; (3) likely problems with management and compliance; and (4) an overall lack of resources for implementation and long-term monitoring. It is concluded that the legislation is a concerted effort to deal with biodiversity loss, however, stakeholders have concerns with the process, and it is unworkable with the complexity of such ecosystems (compared for example to carbon credit trading), and underdeveloped disciplines such as restoration biology and ecology. Despite these criticisms, there is a need for all stakeholders to work to improve the outcomes.     

The culture of bird conservation: Australian stakeholder values regarding iconic,flagship and rare birds

Iconic, flagship and rare threatened bird taxa attract disproportionate amounts of public attention, and are often used to enable broader conservation strategies. Yet, little is known about why certain taxa achieve iconic or flagship status. Also unclear is whether the perception of rarity among those acting to conserve threatened birds is sufficient to influence attitudes and behaviour that lead to effective conservation action and, if so, which characteristics of rare birds are important to their conservation. We interviewed 74 threatened bird conservation stakeholders to explore perceptions about iconic, flagship and rare threatened birds and classified their attitudes using a new typology of avifaunal attitudes. There was a relationship between societal interest and conservation effort for threatened species characterised as iconic, flagship and rare. Iconic species tended to arouse interest or emotion in people due to being appealing and readily encountered, thereby attracting conservation interest that can benefit other biodiversity. Flagships tended to have distinguishing physical or cultural characteristics and were used to convey conservation messages about associated biodiversity. Attitudes about rarity mostly related to a taxon’s threatened status and small population size. Rarity was important for threatened bird conservation but not always associated with attitudes and behaviour that lead to effective conservation action. We conclude that conservation action for individual threatened bird taxa is biased and directly influenced by the ways taxa are socially constructed by stakeholders, which is specific to prevailing culture and stakeholder knowledge.     

Public Support for Conserving Bird Species Runs Counter to Climate Change Impacts on Their Distributions

There is increasing evidence that global climate change will alter the spatiotemporal occurrences and abundances of many species at continental scales. This will have implications for efficient conservation of biodiversity. We investigate if the general public in Denmark are willing to pay for the preservation of birds potentially immigrating and establishing breeding populations due to climate change to the same extent that they are for native species populations currently breeding in Denmark, but potentially emigrating due to climate change. We find that Danish citizens are willing to pay much more for the conservation of birds currently native to Denmark, than for bird species moving into the country – even when they are informed about the potential range shifts associated with climate change. The only exception is when immigrating species populations are under pressure at European level. Furthermore, people believing climate change to be man-made and people more knowledgeable about birds tended to have higher WTP for conservation of native species, relative to other people, whereas their preferences for conserving immigrant species generally resembled those of other people. Conservation investments rely heavily on public funding and hence on public support. Our results suggest that cross-country coordination of conservation efforts under climate change will be challenging in terms of achieving an appropriate balance between cost-effectiveness in adaptation and the concerns of a general public who seem mostly worried about protecting currently-native species.     

Interactive impacts of by-catch take and elite consumption of illegal wildlife

Harvesting, consumption and trade of forest meat are key causes of biodiversity loss. Successful mitigation programs are proving difficult to design, in part because anthropogenic pressures are treated as internationally uniform. Despite illegal hunting being a key conservation issue in the Pacific Islands, there is a paucity of research. Here, we examine the dynamics of hunting of birds and determine how these contribute to biodiversity loss on the islands of Samoa. We focus on the interactive effects of hunting on two key seed dispersing bird species: the Pacific pigeon (Ducula pacifica) and the critically endangered Manumea or tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus strigiristris). We interviewed hunters, vendors and consumers and analyzed household consumption. Results suggest that over 22,000 pigeons were consumed per year and this is by primarily the richest people across the country. Indeed, the wealthiest 10% of households consumed 43% of all wild pigeon meat, and the wealthiest 40% of households consumed 80% of all pigeons. The Manumea was shot by 33% (n = 30) of the surveyed hunters while pursuing the Pacific pigeon. Results raise serious conservation concerns, as pigeon hunting is likely to be a key factor contributing to the decline of the Manumea and critical forest seed dispersers in general. Our results show that wild meat consumption can lead to non-targeted pressure on bycatch species. Wild meat harvesting and consumption is a key issue leading to species declines and extinctions in the tropics. It is critical that this issue receives the appropriate attention and is addressed in the Pacific if species and forests are to be maintained.     

Are important bird areas and special protected areas enough for conservation?: the case of Bonelli’s eagle in a Mediterranean area

The Bonelli’s eagle (BE) is considered by the European Union as a high-priority species for conservation in the Valencian Community (East of Spain). However, in 2006 the European Union opened a legal procedure against the Spanish Kingdom, accused of lacking of an adequate network of special protected areas (SPAs) to preserve the BE in the region. Here we evaluate whether important bird areas (IBAs) and SPAs network is enough to preserve this species, on the basis of a thorough analysis of habitat preferences. A GAP analysis is performed to conduct a revision of current SPAs and BirdLife proposed IBAs. Our results suggest that the current network of SPAs becomes insufficient to protect the BE. The IBAs network, although improves the current network of SPAs, increasing the percentage of BE potential habitat included, also results inadequate. We propose a new SPAs network according to the potential suitable habitat for the species. Given the trade-off between financial investment and the conservation of biodiversity, we propose to maximize the surface of potential habitat included in the protected network minimizing the surface of the region that would be necessary to protect, thus avoiding an unnecessary expense and otherwise unrealistic results.     

Projected impacts of climate change on a continent-wide protected area network

Despite widespread concern, the continuing effectiveness of networks of protected areas under projected 21st century climate change is uncertain. Shifts in species' distributions could mean these resources will cease to afford protection to those species for which they were originally established. Using modelled projected shifts in the distributions of sub-Saharan Africa's entire breeding avifauna, we show that species turnover across the continent's Important Bird Area (IBA) network is likely to vary regionally and will be substantial at many sites (> 50% at 42% of IBAs by 2085 for priority species). Persistence of suitable climate space across the network as a whole, however, is notably high, with 88–92% of priority species retaining suitable climate space in ≥ 1 IBA(s) in which they are currently found. Only 7–8 priority species lose climatic representation from the network. Hence, despite the likelihood of significant community disruption, we demonstrate that rigorously defined networks of protected areas can play a key role in mitigating the worst impacts of climate change on biodiversity.     

Recent papyrus swamp habitat loss and conservation implications in western Kenya

Papyrus Cyperus papyrus swamps are characteristic of many wetlands of tropical Africa. Like most wetland habitats worldwide, they are under human pressure due to harvesting and reclamation for agriculture. Changes in papyrus cover were assessed using aerial photographs at three Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in the Kenyan sector of Lake Victoria. Papyrus area losses of 50% (Dunga), 47% (Koguta) and 34% (Kusa) occurred between 1969 and 2000. The habitat loss and degradation at the sites appeared purposeful, driven by demand for agricultural land and other papyrus products. Cleared papyrus and cultivated areas around all sites increased over the same period. If papyrus habitat loss continues at current rates, papyrus swamps at Dunga and Koguta will disappear by 2020, and Kusa will be reduced to only 19% of its 1969 area. Human population growth around the sites, with concomitant increase in land use activities and papyrus harvesting are the major factors that account for papyrus area reductions. Loss of total habitat is accompanied by deterioration in habitat quality within remaining areas. Papyrus physical structure (height and density) inversely correlate to human disturbances that include footpaths, cutting, burning, grazing and farming. The continued papyrus habitat loss and degradation represents a significant threat to biodiversity conservation particularly for papyrus-specialist birds and other papyrus-reliant species in western Kenya. The observed pattern of papyrus extents and land use changes at all sites provide the site-scale information necessary for papyrus conservation planning. In particular, conservation action is needed most urgently at Dunga and Koguta as they face severe land use pressures.     

Conservation potential of semi-natural habitats for birds in intensively-used agricultural landscapes

Agricultural intensification resulted in substantial loss of farmland biodiversity. Semi-natural habitats may be viewed as potential buffers of these adverse impacts, but a rigorous assessment of their capacity for supporting farmland biodiversity is lacking. In this study, we explored conservation potential of two different types of semi-natural habitats for birds in intensively-used agricultural landscapes – farmland hedges (i.e., linear strips of shrubby and tree vegetation) and open scrubland (i.e., scattered shrubs and abandoned orchards). Specifically, we tested whether the abundance and species richness of birds differ between these habitats considering various species traits, such as habitat affinity (i.e., forest, farmland and urban species), diet specialization (i.e., animal eaters, plant eaters, and omnivores) and conservation status (Species of European Conservation Concern). We found that open scrubland hosted on average 37.9 bird species and 122.6 individuals per 1 km² of the transect, whereas farmland hedges hosted only 19 species and 61.8 individuals per 1 km² of the transect. However, results have substantially changed if we considered the area of suitable habitat into account. More specifically, open scrubland hosted more bird species and individuals when we considered open habitat species and the area of open habitats, whereas farmland hedges had higher species diversity and individuals of woodland bird species when we considered the area of woodland habitats. Similarly, analyses of habitat affiliations of individual species corresponded to the whole-community patterns; and revealed that several woodland bird species were mainly associated with farmland hedges (e.g., Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs, Common Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos and Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla), whereas the open scrubland was preferred by open habitat bird species (e.g., Corn Bunting Emberiza calandra, Quail Coturnix coturnix and Skylark Alauda arvensis). These results demonstrate that semi-natural habitats, both open scrubland and farmland hedges, have large potential for promotion and conservation of bird communities within intensively used agricultural landscapes, as both may have represented suitable habitats for species with different ecological requirements. Therefore, management measures focused on the enlargement of the area of these habitats, in combination with suitable management (e.g., regulating the progress of natural succession in open scrubland; increasing structural diversity of existing farmland hedges), may substantially contribute to bird conservation within agricultural landscapes.     

Woody trees,green space and park size improve avian biodiversity in urban landscapes of Peninsular Malaysia

Rapid urbanization in major cities has adversely affected avian biodiversity in both developed and developing countries. Due to over-urbanization and little regard for nature conservation, such cities are usually characterized by poor biodiversity. In contrast to central business district areas, suburbs may support greater levels of biodiversity through an increase in green areas. We examined urban bird species richness, abundance, and composition in Klang Valley, Peninsular Malaysia. We surveyed 141 points for passerines across 80 parks grouped into two different urban zones, namely central business districts and suburbs. Our results revealed that bird richness did not differ significantly (p = 0.994) between central business districts and the suburbs. We found that the abundances of birds were significantly greater in the suburbs than in central business districts. However, species composition was similar between the central business districts and suburbs. We also found that bird richness increased significantly with an increase in size of green areas and park areas, as well as the number of woody trees in both zones. Evidence from this study suggests that creating urban parks and gardens, coupled with tree planting in central business districts, is able to support greater biodiversity, at least for birds in cities similar to those found in the suburbs.     

Orchid conservation in China from 2000 to 2020: Achievements and perspectives

We review achievements in the conservation of orchid diversity in China over the last 21 years. We provide updated information on orchid biodiversity and suggestions for orchid conservation in China. We outline national policies of biodiversity conservation, especially of orchid conservation, which provide general guidelines for orchid conservation in China. There are now approximately 1708 known species of Orchidaceae in 181 genera in China, including five new genera and 365 new species described over the last 21 years. The assessment of risk of extinction of all 1502 known native orchid species in China in 2013 indicated that 653 species were identified as threatened, 132 species were treated as data-deficient, and four species endemic to China were classified as extinct. Approximately 1100 species (ca. 65%) are protected in national nature reserves, and another ~66 species in provincial nature reserves. About 800 native orchid species have living collections in major botanical gardens. The pollination biology of 74 native orchid species and the genetic diversity and spatial genetic structure of 29 orchid species have been investigated at a local scale and/or across species distributions. The mycorrhizal fungal community composition has been investigated in many genera, such as Bletilla, Coelogyne, Cymbidium, Cypripedium, and Dendrobium. Approximately 292 species will be included in the list of national key protected wild plants this year. Two major tasks for near future include in situ conservation and monitoring population dynamics of endangered species.     

Prospects for conserving biodiversity in Amazonian extractive reserves

Non‐timber forest product (NTFP) extraction is a popular alternative to timber extraction that figures prominently in efforts to utilize tropical forests sustainably. But the ability to conserve biodiversity through NTFP management, particularly in extractive reserves in Amazonia, has remained untested. We found that intensive management of Euterpe oleracea (Palmae) fruit, one of the most important extractive products in the Amazon, has substantial impacts on biodiversity, whereas moderate management does not. We mimicked traditional levels of fruit harvest in a replicated experiment over one fruiting season. High‐intensity harvest (75% of fruits removed) reduced avian frugivore species diversity by 22%. Low‐intensity harvest (40% of fruits removed), however, had no effect on diversity. On a larger scale, we found that forests with enriched densities of E. oleracea supported more fruit‐eating birds but fewer non fruit‐eating birds than non‐enriched forests. Taken together, these results suggest that intensive NTFP management to meet market demands may trigger substantial ecological impacts, at least at the level of our study. E. oleracea harvest should be limited where conservation of biodiversity is a goal.