Important Bird Area

Snow Hill Island off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula has been identified as an IBA
IBA at Guandu Nature Park in Taipei, Taiwan.

An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.

IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International. There are over 13,000 IBAs worldwide.[1] These sites are small enough to be entirely conserved and differ in their character, habitat or ornithological importance from the surrounding habitat. In the United States the program is administered by the National Audubon Society.[2]

Often IBAs form part of a country's existing protected area network, and so are protected under national legislation. Legal recognition and protection of IBAs that are not within existing protected areas varies within different countries. Some countries have a National IBA Conservation Strategy, whereas in others protection is completely lacking.[3]

Frank Lake (South) IBA, Alberta, Canada.
Jabal Moussa Biosphere Reserve in Lebanon
Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu, India.
Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary, Maharashtra, India.
  1. ^ "Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) | BirdLife". www.birdlife.org. Archived from the original on 2019-01-07. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  2. ^ "Important Bird Areas Program, A Global Currency for Bird Conservation, National Audubon Society". Audubon.org. 2009-01-28. Archived from the original on 2010-07-14. Retrieved 2013-11-13.
  3. ^ "Important Bird Areas (IBA). In: UNEP-WCMC. 2010. A-Z Guide of Areas of Biodiversity Importance. UNEP-WCMC. Cambridge, UK. www.biodiversityA-Z.org". Biodiversitya-z.org. Archived from the original on 2019-12-24. Retrieved 2013-11-13.