What is Birdlife's IBA programme?

Although protected areas may be found in countries throughout the world, few attempts have ever been made to assess, on a global scale, whether or not these areas are sufficient to conserve global biodiversity. In many cases, protected areas have been identified for reasons other than biodiversity conservation (e.g., large mammal populations, scenic beauty, protection of watersheds or timber resources). The aim of BirdLife International’s Important Bird Areas (IBA) Programme is to identify and protect a global network of sites that are critical for the long-term survival of all bird species and their habitats.

But why birds? In short, birds are well-known, well-studied, widespread and popular. Birds are prone to endemism and they are excellent indicators of biodiversity in general. If an area holds rare or endemic birds or a particularly diverse range of birds, it is likely to hold a comparable array of other organisms. So, birds provide the scientific baseline data but the underlying aim is the conservation of all living things.

Of course, birds are not faultless surrogates for biodiversity in general. Some sites with, for example, rare plants, endemic amphibians or unusual bacteria will not be identified by the process. (The need to collect information on a range of little-known organisms remains pressing.) Conversely, a few sites may be important only for their rare birds, and not for other wildlife. However, no other group of organisms lends itself to the process in the same way and the identification and protection of sites that are important for birds is undoubtedly a giant step in the right direction for biodiversity conservation. Throughout the world, IBAs have been selected using 4 categories of internationally agreed, objective ornithological criteria:

• Globally threatened species (22 species in Zambia)


• Restricted-range species (8 species in Zambia)


• Biome-restricted Assemblages (138 species in Zambia)


• Globally important congregations (12 qualifying sites in Zambia)

Zambia's IBA programme was officially launched in August 2005. However, it actually started in March 2004 when the Birdlife Africa Secretariat based in Nairobi, in conjunction with ZOS, successfully applied for a grant from NORAD to establish a Pilot Project of one year duration (2004). The main purpose of the NORAD Pilot Project was to provide funds to develop a longer term IBA conservation and education programme for NORAD financing. In conjunction with the Norwegian Ornithological Society (NOF) and Birdlife, we completed this exercise in September 2004, and successfully applied to NORAD for funding for a three year project (2005-2007).

Our aim is to bring 11 IBAs to a higher conservation status by the end of 2007. These IBAs are Imanda Forest, Chisamba, Mutinondo Wilderness, Nyika National Park, Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park and Batoka Gorge, Chimfunshi, Mutulanganga forest, Wonder Gorge, Jimbe Drainage, Hillwood, and Kafue Flats. Our IBA coordinator, Pius Lilanda is coordinating ZOS's conservation efforts. A Current Status Report (CSR) will be produced for each IBA. The main reason for producing a CSR is to establish a baseline dataset of the physical, biological and human parameters that define the unique biodiversity of an IBA, as well as to identify any threats to the IBA. This information will be used in future to measure changes in these parameters in order to track changes in habitat or in biodiversity.

A second important function of the CSR is to guide the deliberations of the Stakeholders Workshop which will follow as soon as possible after the publication of the CSR. The purpose of the Stakeholders Workshop is to elect (or nominate) a Site Support Group, draft a Conservation Action Plan for the IBA and select IBA Schools. IBA schools should be located within or close to the IBA, and will receive support from the ZOS IBA Schools Programme. This programme aims to give students the opportunity for hands-on conservation activities, such as monitoring IBAs, and provide them with a sense of pride to be participating in a highly targeted and yet world-wide conservation programme. We hope that the experiences gathered by these school children will instil a sense of ownership of conservation initiatives and improve protection of natural resources in Zambia. Between 2 and 5 IBA schools can be chosen within an IBA.

With support from ZOS members, local communities and other conservation organizations, our IBA programme is well on schedule. We have produced CSRs for 9 IBAs (namely Mutinondo Wilderness, Imanda Forest, Batoka Gorges, Chisamba, Wonder Gorge, Mutulanganga, Hillwood, Jimbe Drainage and Chimfunshi) and have held stakeholders workshops in these IBAs.