Agriculture and Habitat loss key threats to Africa's birds
Johannesburg, South Africa, 22 October 2001 - South Africa's Minister for Environmental Affairs & Tourism, Mr Mohammed Valli Moosa, today launched BirdLife International's landmark publication, Important Bird Areas in Africa, at a conference hosted by the BirdLife Africa Partnership and BirdLife South Africa [1, 2, 3].
The 1,160-page study took eight years to complete, involved hundreds of ornithologists, volunteers and government staff in 58 countries and territories who between them have identified a comprehensive network of 1,228 sites or Important Bird Areas (IBAs). It is the first ever attempt to list all the sites internationally recognised as the most critically important places for bird and biodiversity conservation in the region and identifies some of the main threats affecting Africa's IBAs. As such it is a major achievement for the BirdLife Africa Partnership.
"The main threats affecting IBAs in 20 countries are agricultural encroachment and habitat clearance which threaten 51% of sites, over-exploitation such as hunting and clearance for fuelwood which threatens 47%, and commercial logging which threatens 20%", said Dr Muhtari Aminu-Kano, Chair of the BirdLife Council for the Africa Partnership.
"Twenty countries in the Guinea region and Congo Basin, including Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria, hold most of Africa's lowland rainforest so it is clear that management or protection must be urgently improved at many sites if the threatened species they hold are to be protected from extinction". [4]
"Important Bird Areas in Africa signals a 'new beginning' - the beginning of a truly African process of managing the precious natural resources and priceless biodiversity of this continent to benefit all present and future inhabitants, especially the poor", said Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, Honorary President of BirdLife International, in her video address to the conference.
Some bird species are in substantial decline across Africa. This is mirrored across much of the continent where land use continues to intensify, driven by many socio-economic forces, not least as a consequence of unsustainable development, often appalling poverty, civil conflict and international debt.
Few areas have escaped the impact of recent expansions in agriculture, logging, wetland drainage, desertification, urbanisation and pollution. These and other threats have taken a heavy toll on Africa's biodiversity with 218 out of 2,313 species - nearly 10% of the African avifauna - now recognised as globally threatened [5].
Alarmingly, Important Bird Areas in Africa shows that a massive 89% of these critical IBAs have no protection under international law, such as the World Heritage or Ramsar conventions [6]. This is of grave concern considering that 77 species of global conservation concern are each known from only one IBA, including the Critically Endangered Ibadan Malimbe Malimbus ibadanensis in Nigeria and the Vulnerable Congo Bay-owl Phodilus prigoginei in the Democratic Republic of Congo [7].
In terms of protection under national law the situation is more mixed. The assessment shows that 597 IBAs (49%) overlap completely with areas protected under national law, and that 1.4 million km2 of the total IBA network already has some form of legal protection or recognition. However, it also shows that 44% of sites, covering a total area of 403,839 km2, have no legal recognition or official protection. The largest unprotected site is Tibesti Massif IBA in Chad which covers 3.3 million hectares.
One of BirdLife International's key strategies to combat threats to Africa's birds and biodiversity has been to help develop a grass-roots community of African conservationists through its Site Support Group network. This consists of local stakeholders with a commitment to local sites and habitats, and a willingness - often voluntary - to work with NGOs and governmental and intergovernmental agencies to ensure sites are well monitored, managed and sustained. The BirdLife Partnership has started to tackle successfully some of the problems facing IBAs through community-based projects including the Kilum-Ijim Forest Project at Mount Oku IBA, Cameroon, and projects at Mont Péko IBA in Côte d'Ivoire and Arabuko-Sokoke IBA in Kenya.
Work is underway in ten countries funded in part by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which has already led to the founding of National Liaison Committees (NLCs) which facilitate IBA site conservation. These NLCs are also catalysing the development of National IBA Conservation Strategies (NIBACs), a process in which all relevant stakeholders are consulted and engaged in shaping action plans that benefit Africa's IBA site network.
Effective protection and management of IBAs, equivalent to 7% of Africa's total land area, is a realistic goal that would make an important contribution to conserving many bird species that range across Africa and in some cases parts of Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. For example, the vulnerable Lesser Kestrel occurs at 52 sites in Africa and migrates to Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia to breed. Conservation measures taken in Africa should benefit numbers in other regions.
"IBAs are increasingly recognised worldwide as the international currency for site protection. Now, in one authoritative volume, we have a comprehensive inventory of the IBA sites in Africa. If governments, legislators and decision-makers across Africa act now to protect these internationally important places, the future of Africa's birds and its biodiversity will be more secure", said Dr Michael Rands, Director and Chief Executive of BirdLife International, during his address.
BirdLife International urgently recommends the following actions to conserve Africa's IBAs and birds:
* Designation and protection of IBAs under international agreements where the relevant criteria are met;
* Designation of IBAs as protected areas under national law;
* Adherence to national and international law regarding site protection;
* Involvement of local communities, NGOs, land-users and the public in IBA protection;
* Effective and adequate management of IBAs;
* Integration of environmental objectives into all policy sectors;
* Maximisation of the use and dissemination of data; and
* Monitoring of IBAs in order to help refine conservation and policy mechanisms.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
1. BirdLife International is a global alliance of conservation organisations working in more than 100 countries who, together, are the leading authority on the status of birds, their habitats and the issues and problems affecting bird life. In Africa, the BirdLife International Partnership comprises 17 autonomous organisations in 18 African countries. These are Fondation des Amis de la Nature (NATURAMA - Burkina Faso), Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society (EWNHS), Ghana Wildlife Society (GWS), NatureKenya, Conservation Society of Sierra Leone (CSSL), BirdLife South Africa (BLSA), Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST), NatureUganda (NU), Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), Association "Les Amis des Oiseaux" (AAO Tunisia), BirdLife Zimbabwe (BLZ), BirdLife Botswana, Association Burundaise pour la Protection des Oiseaux (ABO), Cameroon Ornithological Club (COC), Sherif Baha El Din (Egypt), Association pour la Conservation de la Nature au Rwanda (ACNR), BirdLife Seychelles and the Zambian Ornithological Society (ZOS).
2. IBAs in Africa and Associated Islands: Priority Sites for Conservation, Lincoln Fishpool and Michael Evans, was launched at the Conservation and Development seminar at the ESKOM Conference Centre in Midrand, near Johannesburg, South Africa.
3. BirdLife International defines Important Bird Areas (IBAs) as:
* Sites selected using standardised, internationally agreed criteria,
* Places of international significance for the conservation of birds,
* Practical tools for conservation that are recognised worldwide,
* Amenable to conservation and, as far as possible, delimitable from surrounding areas,
* Sites ideally forming part of a wider, integrated approach to conservation and sustainable use embracing species, sites, habitats & people.
4. IBAs lacking adequate protection include Bali-Ngemba IBA in Cameroon and Biseni IBA and Donga river basin IBA in Nigeria.
5. Threatened Birds of the World, Alison Stattersfield and David Capper, BirdLife International, Lynx Edicions, 2000.
6. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was established in 1971.
7. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List criteria for globally threatened species are: Critically Endangered (facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future), Endangered (facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future), and Vulnerable (facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term).
For further information please contact Michael Szabo at the BirdLife South Africa office on +27 11 789 1122 or +44 7779 018332 (mobile), or Adrian Long at BirdLife International in Cambridge, UK, on +44 (0)1223 277 318.
A news release, briefing materials and visual resources will be posted on BirdLife's website on 22nd October at www.birdlife.net