European Important Bird Areas
 BirdLife
European IBAs
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The European Important Bird Area Programme aims to identify, monitor and protect key sites for birds all over the continent through joint efforts of staff and volunteers at local, national and international level.
What are the aims?
The aim of the European IBA programme is to ensure that the conservation value of the over 4,000 Important Bird Areas in Europe is maintained, and where possible enhanced. This is to be achieved through maintaining an up-to-date inventory of IBAs, monitoring their status and carrying out conservation actions on the ground and advocating policy changes at local, national and international level.
Why is this important?
Important Bird Areas are sites particularly important for bird conservation because they regularly hold significant population of one or more globally or regionally threatened, endemic or congregatory bird species or highly representative bird asembladges.
Important Bird Areas are more than a bunch of sites, they aim to form a network sites ensuring that migratory species find suitable breeding, stop-over and wintering places along their respective flyways.
Important Bird Areas were selected on the basis of internationally agreed standard criteria. In Europe, the criteria takes into account the requirements of regional conservation treaties such as the Emerald Network under the Bern Convention, the Helsinki Convention, the Barcelona Convention, as well as, the Wild Birds Directive of the European Union. Hence, Important Bird Areas are priority sites for conservation that should be protected by these conservation instruments.
By collecting and analyzing data on the status of Important Bird Areas the BirdLife International Partnership is not only able to record changes in the status of bird populations and ecological charactersitics, but it can also help science-based decision making that affects these areas both at national and international level.
 F Casale/LIPU
International group of participants on a LIPU-ASPBM expedition for monitoring IBAs in Albania
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Who is involved?
The European IBA Programme is implemented through national IBA Programmes in 29 countries with the support and co-ordination of the European Division of the BirdLife Secretariat.
The identification, monitoring of IBAs and local conservation actions involve more than 2,000 local volunteers who form national IBA caretaker networks in their respective countries. These national networks are supported by 40 national IBA co-ordinators.
The conservation of Important Bird Areas, however, inconceivable without the collaboration of land users, local communities, governmental and non-governmental organisations, as well as, international bodies.
What does the European IBA Programme do?
The European IBA is the longest running of a number of regional IBA programmes. Its activities encompass the followings:
Identification of Important Bird Areas and dissemination of information
Important Bird Area inventories have been published since 1981. The first Pan-European IBA inventory was published in 1989, covering 2,444 in 39 countries. A second Pan-European IBA inventory was published in 2000, covering 3,619 in 51 countries/autonomous regions. In addition to these regional publications, a number of national inventories, in the appropriate national languages, have been prepared and published by BirdLife Partners, with support from the BirdLife Secretariat.
 Mike Read
Oystercatchers at Snettisham, UK
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Monitoring of Important Bird Areas
The monitoring of Important Bird Areas is to provide up-to-date information on the conservation status of IBAs and measure progress of conservation on regional scale. The information is used to set priorities for actions and in science-based advocacy. The European BirdLife International Partnership is developing standard monitoring protocols to ensure high quality data. (Provide link to monitoring website/download centre)
Provision of legal protection under national and international law
BirdLife International aims to get all IBAs protected under national and/or international law in order to ensure their adequate legal safeguard. The level of protection is higher in some countries than in others. In the European Union Member States and Accession Countries significant success has been made to designate Important Bird Areas as Specially Protected Areas under the EU Wild Bird Directive - see Birds and Habitats Directives Task Force.
Campaigning for threatened IBAs
Important Bird Areas are under immense pressure through developments in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, transport, infrastructure, tourism and recreation which severly impacts the most important sites for birds. The BirdLife International Partnership uses communication, advocacy and legal tools to ensure that these development do not affect any IBA adversely.
IBA stewardship
Most IBAs in Europe require management in Europe to maintain, enhance or restore its ecological values. BirdLife partner organisations manage reserves within Important Bird Areas or work with land owners, local communities and other non-governmental organisation to ensure adequate management of Important Bird Areas. Local IBA caretakers and site support groups play crucial role at local level.
For more information on the European IBA Programme contact:
BirdLife European Division Office
Europe@birdlife.org
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