The Bird Species for which IBAs are important in the Pacific.
The rigorous application of
quantitative ornithological criteria ensures that the network
of 187 identified sites are all of global importance. The reasons for the importance of individual
IBAs, as indicated by the type of criteria that each site fulfils, are shown in
Table 1. The criterion most commonly met
is the one for species of global conservation concern (category A1), with
approximately 80% of the 187 sites qualifying for this. Significant assemblages of restricted-range
species (category A2) are also recorded at over two thirds of sites –
emphasising the extent to which a high proportion of the islands/territories
are containing with Endemic Bird Areas.
Rather fewer sites qualify for the congregatory
species groups (category A4), partly because there are relatively few sites
with high numbers of non-breeding waterbirds, partly
because knowledge of population size of breeding seabird colonies is less
complete than distribution and numbers of terrestrial, resident, species.
A site may be important for many
different species and may thus qualify under more than one category. 27 sites (14%) in the Pacific qualify under a
single category while 4 sites (4%) qualify under all five categories (ie A1, A2, A4i, A4ii &
A4iii). These latter sites are in
Kiribati and New Zealand.
For many key species IBAs represent
the minimum network of sites needed for their conservation, at the full
potential of their range, distribution and population size. Of the 27 species listed as Critically
Endangered in the region, 21 are present in between 1 and 4 IBAs. Of the remaining six species, the nesting
locations of two are not known, Beck’s Petrel and New Zealand Storm-petrel, two
species have not been located in recent survey work, New Caledonian Lorikeet
and New Caledonian Rail and terrestrial IBA networks for two species, Malherbes Parakeet and Kakapo, have not yet been undertaken
on New Zealand. Almost a half, 13 of the
27 Critically Endangered species, are only known from
one IBA site, globally. These sedentary,
non-migratory, species are permanently vulnerable to man-made or natural
changes to their highly-restricted environments.
The extent to which the distribution
of species is restricted in range across the Pacific can be indicated by the
distribution of number of countries that each of the species is recorded. 225 species (82%) are recorded in IBAs in
only one of the countries. By contrast
only 16 of the species recorded (6%) are recorded in 4 or more countries, 6 of
which are terrestrial species, the remaining waterbirds
or seabirds.
Twenty six of the sites in the region
qualify as IBAs because 5 or more species within the IBA are classed as A1
(globally-threatened, or near threatened).
These sites are in Fiji (5), New Zealand (7), North Mariana (4),
Pitcairn Islands (1), Samoa (1), Solomon Islands (6), Vanuatu
(1) – primarily the larger island groups within the region.
There are 32 Endemic Bird Areas in
the Pacific Region (12 of these are in Papua, New Guinea) and a further 17
Secondary Areas (1 of these is in PNG).
14 of the EBAs still currently have no IBAs within them (thats all 12 on PNG plus Southern Cook Islands and Rennell & Bellona, Solomon Islands), while 5 of the
2ary areas have no IBAs (Aitutaki - Cook Islands,
Gilbert Islands - Kiribati, Ontong Java Atoll –
Solomon Islands and PNG). Clearly there
is considerable room for expansion of the IBA programme in the region.
36 sites in the region have congregatory seabird or waterbird
colonies in excess of 20,000 individuals, or 10,000 pairs. These are in Fiji (3), French Polynesia
(3), Kiribati (6), Marshall Islands (4), New Caledonia (4), New Zealand (6),
North Mariana Islands (2), Palau (2), Pitcairn Islands (3) and Tonga (3).
40 sites
(21%) are classed as containing, or are contained within, protected areas,
rather below the global average of 26%.