35 Sites: Refining boundaries

Chapter under final construction

The analysis of spatial data can lead to outputs on maps that make ecological sense, but are not always entirely practical in terms of identifying an important site suited to management purposes.

This chapter will guide users through some of the steps that might be considered for refining final outputs derived from analyses in previous chapters, so that these outputs may be more suited to particular management measures where necessary.

Users may consider the following guidance:

35.1 Lessons from Key Biodiversity Areas

As per the KBA Standards, a site is defined as:

KBA Site: A geographical area on land and/or in water with defined ecological, physical, administrative or management boundaries that is actually or potentially manageable as a single unit (e.g. a protected area or other managed conservation unit). For this reason, large-scale biogeographic regions such as ecoregions, Endemic Bird Areas and Biodiversity Hotspots, and land-/seascapes containing multiple management units, are not considered to be sites. In the context of KBAs, “site” and “area” are used interchangeably.

35.2 Lessons from Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas

From (Donald et al. (2019)): As far as possible, IBA boundaries are identified such that:

    1. the area inside the boundary is different in character, habitat or ornithological importance from surrounding areas;
    1. the IBA exists as a discrete manageable unit, such as a protected area, with or without buffer zones, and
    1. the site is an area that provides the requirements of the trigger species (i.e. those for which the site qualifies) while present, alone or in combination with networks of other sites.

In many cases, delineation is straightforward, often dictated by obvious habitat boundaries or guided by existing protected area boundaries, land ownership or management boundaries.

There is no set maximum or minimum size for an IBA, although the condition that the site forms a single manageable unit places a constraint on the maximum sensible area.