State of Australia's Key Biodiversity Areas 2018
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State of Australia’s Key Biodiversity Areas 2018 Acknowledgements What are Key Biodiversity Areas Table of Contents BirdLife Australia thanks all the volunteers who contributed their time and expertise to collecting and why do we need them? data and helping to identify Australia’s Key Acknowldgements .................................... 2 Biodiversity Areas (KBAs). We are extremely grateful to the KBA Guardians, and all those who Key Biodiversity Areas ........................... 3 continue to monitor KBAs and contribute to the conservation and management of these areas. What are Key Biodiversity Areas Biodiversity loss is occurring at an alarming rate across the world. In the last four and why do we need them? ...............4 We would also like to thank the regional KBA Coordinators, the KBA Technical Advisory decades, there has been a 60% decline in wildlife populations across the planet. It is Committee and the BirdLife branches and networks clear that our huge impact on nature now threatens our very existence. We are reliant The KBA Program in Australia ............. 6 that have embraced and championed the KBA on a bountiful nature if we want to have a healthy and prosperous future, not just for our Program so effectively. children but for ourselves. Identifying and safeguarding sites of particular importance Measuring the health of KBAs ............. 8 BirdLife Australia’s KBA Program is made possible for biodiversity is therefore more urgent than ever. The availability of fresh water, our KBA Guardians ........................................... 9 through the generous support of BirdLife Australia’s food production systems, such as crop pollination or fisheries, and our cultural heritage donors, and we thank them for their ongoing depend directly and indirectly on a world with a rich diversity of species. 2018 Easter health-checks .................. 10 passion and commitment. In 2016, a partnership of eleven of the world’s leading conservation organisations BirdLife Australia acknowledges the Traditional Getting involved in the KBA Owners of Country throughout Australia, and their launched the new Global Standard for the Identification ofKey Biodiversity Areas to Program .....................................................13 continuing connection to land, sea and community. determine the sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and This is a momentous achievement for the conservation community. For the first time we KBAs in Danger: our success to their Elders past, present and emerging. have a common language to talk about the most important places left for life on Earth. stories .........................................................14 These sites are called Key Biodiversity Areas. KBA outlook ...............................................18 Front cover image: Two Peoples Bay and Mount Manypeaks KBA. Declared for the Critically Endangered KBA contacts..............................................19 Gilbert’s Potoroo and Endangered Noisy Scrub-bird and Australian Alps KBA, showing the Western Bristlebird. Image by Robert Horler. Long Plain area inside the Kosciuszko KBA achievements for 2018..................20 National Park. This is a fragile area of channels and bogs which form the headwaters of the Murrumbidgee Citation: Reaney LT and Maurer G, 2019. State of Australia's Key Biodiversity Areas 2018. BirdLIfe Australia, Melbourne River. It is under threat by damage ISBN: 978-1-875122-00-4 from Brumbies. Image by Les Main, Australian Alps KBA Guardian The KBA Partnership is a global initiative of 13 conservation organisations 2 3 Key Biodiversity Areas: A coordinated approach to Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) are: conserving nature’s hotspots • Places of global signficance for the conservation of birds and other wildlife • Recognised as a focus for practical conservation action The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity enshrines a commitment of over • Linked to internationally binding agreements 130 countries, including Australia, to ‘Aichi Target 11’1. In short, this target, agreed at a 2010 conference in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, requires Australia to protect and manage 17% of its land and water for nature “especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity”. One of the KBAs are identified using the strict, scientific Global Standard and must meet main indicators of progress towards Target 11 is the number of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) one of five criteria: under formal protection2. • Contain 0.5% of the population of a (critically) endangered species* In Australia, a KBA National Coordination Group (NCG) has been established to identify and • Contain 10% of the population of a species* with a very small range map as KBAs all areas of particular importance for biodiversity according to rigorous scientific KBA criteria3. This map aims to provide guidance and momentum for increased investment • Represent intact wilderness in the conservation of such areas and the growth of Australia’s protected area network. To • Provide important nurseries, migration bottlenecks etc. for one or more species* accomplish this, the NCG brings together global KBA partners and species experts and taps into the knowledge of many community groups and government agencies. A network of KBAs • Be an irreplaceable part of a site network for Australia, strongly supported by science and the community, will not only assist with local conservation actions but also provide an impetus for Australian Governments to assume a *These species are known as trigger species in the KBA Global Standard (see Resources page 19) renewed leadership role in biodiversity protection. In 2020, the world will set new targets to address the extinction crisis at the Convention on BirdLife International, the world’s largest Biological Diversity conference in China. Global conservation organisations, including WWF and BirdLife International, are calling for a ‘30 by 30’ target: 30% of land and sea protected by nature conservation partnership, is 20304. KBAs will play a crucial role in ensuring that the 30% protected area represents the most tracking the conservation status of over important areas for wildlife and their conservation should be used to measure the success of 12,000 of these sites of international these new targets. significance for birds. Mapping Australia’s terrestrial KBAs Community monitoring reveals that many of the world’s nature hotspots, including The current set of KBAs in Australia is based on Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas mapped sites under legal protection such as by BirdLife Australia before the Aichi Targets came into effect. While birds prove their worth national parks, are in danger of losing the as indicators of biodiversity—with about two thirds of all of Australia’s threatened animals and species that make them important. plants found in these areas—this current network is not enough to safeguard our continent’s unique wildlife. The KBA network currently covers a mere 5.7% of Australia’s land mass and only Through the KBA Partnership, which about half (53.8%) of KBAs have formal protection. mobilises the expertise, experience and To reach the ambitious 30 by 30 target, much work needs to be done. Despite the welcome resources of 13 of the world’s leading creation of Indigenous Protected Areas, only 36 of 85 terrestrial bioregions have reached nature conservation organisations, we 17% protection5. An increase in Australian Government investment in strategic protected area are aiming to map, monitor and conserve growth for both government and private area conservation is needed. these areas. The KBA Partnership aims to refine and expand the initial KBA map taxonomically and Industry, governments and many others geographically to give Australia a blue-print to protecting its unique wildlife. need a reliable and scientifically valid source of information on sites that are 1. cbd.int/sp/targets/rationale/target-11/ 2. cbd.int/doc/strategic-plan/strategic-plan-indicators-en.pdf critical for nature conservation. The KBA 3. portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/2016-048.pdf 4. presspage-production-content.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/1763/jointstatement-905923.pdf Program provides this much needed 5. wwf.org.au/news/news/2017/more-than-a-quarter-of-australias-ecosystems-are-not-protected#gs.geb94u information to ensure we make the best management investment decisions for these nature hotspots. TOP: Shorebirds wading in Mundoo Island Station in the Coorong KBA. Image by Sally Grundy. MIDDLE: Yellow- tailed Black-Cockatoo foraging in a banksia, Jervis Bay KBA. Image by Chris Grounds. BOTTOM: Flowering Red Swainson-pea (Swainsona plagiotropis) in the Patho Lake Wollumboola KBA. Plains KBA, an important area for the endangered Image by Chris Grounds Plains-wanderer. Image by Aillin O’Brien. 4 5 The KBA Program in Australia State of Australia's KBAs KBAsKBAs in Danger in Danger of Losing of a Triggerlosing Species a trigger species In Australia, 315 Key Biodiversity Areas have been identified so far, covering 5.7% of KBAsKBAs With with Health Health-checks Checks in 2018 in 2018 the continent’s landmass. What we have discovered, however, is that despite their OtherOther KBAs KBAs international significance, many KBAs do not receive the protection they need and KBA with Trigger Species other than Birds deserve. Fewer than 20% of Australia’s KBAs are fully protected and many are managed KBAs with trigger species other