Important Bird Areas
IBA programme overview
 The
loss of biodiversity is one of the real European environmental problems, which
affect every citizen. Thus, the well-being of our Common European House depends
on how we can solve this problem.
Ukraine is one of the countries, which have almost all main types of ecosystems
from internal and coastal wetland zones (including very valuable and rich estuary
parts) to boreal forests.
The implementation of the Important Bird Area (IBA) programme as an international
initiative spearheaded by BirdLife International is a very important contribution
to conservation of Ukrainian nature. The goal of the programme is to identify,
protect and manage a network of sites necessary to ensure the long-term viability
of naturally occurring bird populations (for which site-based conservation
is appropriate). Through the protection of birds and habitats we also promote
the conservation of the world's biodiversity.
IBAs are identified using a set of standardized and internationally agreed-upon
criteria. Besides, IBA programme offers opportunities for local stakeholders
(landowners, land users) to become involved in identifying and promoting effective
conservation measures.
Since 1996 the Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Birds (USPB) as an official
representative of BirdLife International in Ukraine has been developing successful
IBA programme in 26 regions of Ukraine using established IBA coordinator and
IBA caretaker Network. The first phase of the project continued up to 1999.
The programme involved the national, regional and local bird experts and amateurs.
As a result, the National IBA Inventory Book was issued in 1999, which includes
short basic description of 134 sites of international importance.
102 of those were officially recognized as Important Bird Areas (IBAs) covering
2 497 000 ha, which gives 4% of the country area. 61 IBAs regularly support
significant number of globally threatened and near-threatened species at several
stages of their annual life cycle.
The second phase of the IBA programme in Ukraine started in 2000 under the
title “Conservation of Important Bird Areas in Ukraine”. It was a logistic
step and a follow-up activity after the Phase I. During the period of Phase
II implementation, an appropriate national IBA caretakers network was established
in almost half of known IBAs. USPB promoted including first priority IBAs into
the national network of Protected Areas and National Parks and promoted improvement
of legislation and implementation of relevant Conventions. Series of conservation
actions were conducted in the selected IBAs using monitoring tools.
Another priority of the second phase was development of Management Plans
for IBAs.
The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources (MENR) has not enough resources
to develop and implement management plans even for the strictly protected areas.
Besides, most of the existing protected areas in Ukraine have no Management
Plans at all. Only some Ukrainian biosphere reserves (that have the highest
conservation status in Ukraine) have appropriate Management Plans prepared
through the financial support of the GEF projects. But even available Management
Plans are not implemented due to the lack of funding.
Now, there are 166 recognized IBAs in Ukraine. The majority of IBAs in Ukraine
support important number of waterfowl either during the breeding, wintering
or migrating season, which gives totally 61 species. 37 out of 61 sites support
globally important assemblages of waterfowl and the remaining 24 support assemblages
of the European importance. 72 out of the 102 IBAs support important breeding
numbers of species of European conservation concern (SPECs).
A new third phase of the ABE programme started in September 2002. This phase
continues conservation activities through research into the main gaps in the
current management of Ukrainian key IBA’s. It is important to take into account
first of all inland wetland, forest IBAs and sites, which support globally
threatened species (Aquatic Warbler, Corncrake, Great Spotted Eagle, Great
Bustard etc.).
Through the use of appropriate policy framework and lobbing on governmental
and regional levels USPB promotes including IBAs of high priority into the
National Ecological network. Series of conservation actions will be conducted
for threatened IBAs using all appropriate tools including monitoring for threats
in the selected IBAs and preparing GIS-maps with information on IBAs. Data
collection for threatened IBAs and Globally Threatened Species will be also
conducted, and some projects on threats removal may be also funded. Conservation
actions involving local stakeholders will be also planned. Other priorities
of the work under IBA programme include preparing practical guides on conservation
and management as starting tools for local and national managers and decision
makers.
Examples of projects implemented within the framework of IBA
programme in Ukraine
- National Important Bird Areas Inventory Book: Priority sites
for conservation 1999
- Military training areas survey 1998
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