GCCW

Introduction

The Important Bird Areas (IBA) program of BirdLife International is a worldwide initiative aimed at identifying and properly managing network of critical sites for the conservation of the world's birds and biodiversity in general. The European IBA program is the longest running of a number of regional IBA programs and for the last decade has addressed site-oriented research and action, encompassing habitat management, integrated natural resources planning and management, public participation and community development, monitoring, education, advocacy, and national and international legal protection. The national IBA program in Georgia is initiated in 2001 by GCCW.

What are IBAs?

• Critical sites for the conservation of birds and biodiversity
• Places of international importance
• Practical targets for conservation action
• Selected according to internationally recognized criteria
• Used to reinforce existing protected area networks
• Used as part of a wider approach to conservation and sustainable development

What are main targets in IBA conservation?

• Designate IBAs as protected areas under national law
• Monitor IBAs to understand changes and feedback in conservation and policy mechanisms
• Maximize, use and disseminate data
• Integrate environmental objectives into all policy sectors
• Involve local communities, NGOs, land-user and the public
• Adequately manage IBAs
• Adhere to national and international law regarding site protection
• Designate and protect IBAs under international agreements

Who works with IBAs?

IBA program is supported and coordinated by Birdlife secretariat. At national level it is implemented by BirdLife partners and national IBA coordinators, who work with network of local people, communities and organizations, so-called IBA “Caretakers” or “Site Support Groups”.

IBA program in Georgia

The major threats for IBAs in Georgian are result of unsustainable natural resources management practices (wetland, range land, forest and game management, agriculture, etc.) that itself usually derives from the low level of public awareness on biodiversity and insufficient level of community involvement in the local governance aspects and decision making process. Because of this, IBA program in Georgia incorporates two major elements: improving natural resources management practices and increasing public participation and community development at local levels. The specific activities implemented under the IBA program in Georgia include:

1. Completion of identification and delineation of IBAs:

• Phase 1: A1, A4, B1. 80% of suitable sites identified
• Phase 2: B2/B3, A2 A3
  
  

  2. Development of IBA Site Support Groups - at all IBAs of global significance local organizations exist:

• Provide training in conservation skills, including - bird identification & simple bird census techniques; basic principles of conservation management (including natural resources management, threats, legal and institutional framework); stewardship techniques dealing with stakeholders
• Provide training in organizational management, including: membership, fundraising, NGO development and management, public relations
• Provision of equipments: optics, computers, vehicles, etc.
• Assist developing local project proposals and to find funding
• Involvement in national projects
  
  

  3. Promotion of the IBA concept:

• Publish and distribute promotional materials
• Produce IBA book to use in advocacy
• Provide IBA information via the Internet, Develop along data collection
  
  

  4. Protect IBAs:

• Analyze protected area coverage of IBAs
• Prioritize IBAs for designation
• Participate/undertake preparation of management plans for priority IBAs
• Advocate designation of priority IBAs as protected areas
• Feed IBA information into national and international biodiversity prioritization processes
  
  

  5. Integrate IBAs into other policies

• Influence EIAs
• Influence relevant legislation
• Influence national environmental and development plans
  
  

  6. Monitor IBAs

• Use the IBA Site Support Groups to collect bird and threat information
• Produce report of state of IBAs in every 4 years
• Update IBA database and website

Recent Achievements

• 31 IBAs in category A are identified and delineated in Georgia and action plans are being developed
• A network of Site Support Groups is initiated - eight local NGOs (GCCW associated members) became involved in the program covering 13 IBAs
• IBA program in Georgia is included among priorities of the draft National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan
• IBA data of Georgia is incorporated in the Ecosystem Profile of the Caucasus Biodiversity Hotspot prepared by the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund
• The regional program for IBA conservation is developed in collaboration with BirdLife International and partner organizations in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia
• Project proposals for separate IBAs are developed and submitted to various potential donors
• IBA presentation leaflet is produced and distributed widely
• The first national IBA meeting is organized in 2004

IBAs in Georgia:

Map of Georgian IBAs

IBA Categories and Criteria

The criteria used to select IBAs of global significance are as follows:

Category 1. Globally Threatened Species - Criterion: The site regularly holds significant numbers of a globally threatened species, or other species of global conservation concern. A site qualifies under this category if it is known, estimated or thought to hold a population of a species categorized as Critical or Endangered. Population-size thresholds for those species identified as Vulnerable, Conservation Dependent, Data Deficient and Near Threatened are set regionally, as appropriate, to help in site selection.

Category 2. Restricted-range species - Criterion: The site is known or thought to hold a significant component of a group of species whose breeding distributions define an Endemic Bird Area or Secondary Area. Endemic Bird Areas (EBAs) are defined as places where two or more species of restricted range, i.e. with world distributions of less than 50,000 km2, occur together.

Category 3. Biome-restricted assemblage - Criterion: The site is known or thought to hold a significant component of the group of species whose distributions are largely or wholly confined to one biome. This category applies to groups of species with largely shared distributions of greater than 50,000 km2, which occur mostly or wholly within all or part of a particular biome and are, therefore, of global importance.

Category 4. Congregations - Criterion: A site may qualify on one or more of the four criteria: 1. Site known or thought to hold, on a regular basis, more than 1% of a biogeographic population of a congregatory waterbird species; 2. Site known or thought to hold, on a regular basis, more than 1% of the global population of a congregatory seabird or terrestrial species; 3. Site known or thought to hold, on a regular basis, more than 20,000 waterbirds or 10,000 pairs of seabirds of one or more species; 4. Site known or thought to exceed thresholds set for migratory species at bottleneck sites.

Criteria have been developed such, that by applying different numerical threshold, the international importance of a site for a species may be categorized at three distinct geographical levels:

• Global ("A" criteria)
• European ("B" criteria)
• European Union ("C" criteria)

List of Species of Conservation Concern in Europe and European Union Concern used for IBA identification in Georgia