Australia's Important Bird Areas - Key sites for bird conservation

Australia’s 314 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) are among Earth’s most exceptional places for birds and are priority sites for bird conservation. By conserving these key areas, Australians can be more confident of the long-term survival of our birds. In this report, Birds Australia presents the results of a three year project to identify Australia’s IBAs. The project owes its success to the contributions of over 1,000 volunteers. Almost half of the area covered by Australia’s IBAs has no existing formal protection, thus representing an opportunity for conservation. Most of Australia’s IBAs face challenges such as invasive species, development pressure, overgrazing and inappropriate fire regimes, thus presenting a need for management. In only a very small number of IBAs were no challenges identified