KBAS IN DANGERKBA? IBA? What’s in a name? 4 IBA-KBA transition 5 What does the KBA standard mean...

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KBAS IN DANGER THE STATE OF AUSTRALIA’S KEY BIODIVERSITY AREAS IN 2017

2 I KBAS IN DANGER BIRDLIFE.ORG.AU

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

INTRODUCTION 4 Australia’s Key Biodiversity Areas 4 KBA? IBA? What’s in a name? 4 IBA-KBA transition 5 What does the KBA standard mean for

Australia? 5

SNAPSHOT OF KBAS IN 2017 6 How do we measure KBA health? 6 Regularly assessing KBA status 6 State of our KBAs 6 KBAs in Danger 7

IBAS IN DANGER 2014 - UPDATE 8 Norfolk Island KBA 8 Murray Sunset, Hattah and Annuello

KBAs 8 Boodjamulla KBA 8 Patho Plains and Riverina Plains KBAs 9 Lower Hunter Valley KBA 9

KBAS IN DANGER 2017 10 Mining 11 KBA in Danger: Christmas Island 11 Water management 12 KBA in Danger: Macquarie Marshes 12 Forestry 14 KBA in Danger: Bruny Island 14 Infrastructure development 16 KBA in Danger: Northern Swan Coastal

Plain 16 KBA in Danger: Moreton Bay and

Pumicestone Passage 17

CONCLUSIONS 19 Protecting the right places: KBAs can

lead the way 19 How to protect KBAs 19 BirdLife Australia’s community-driven

approach 19

BirdLife Australia thanks all of the volunteers who contributed their time and expertise collecting data and helping to identify Australia’s Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs). We are extremely grateful to our KBA Guardians, and all those who continue to monitor KBAs, for their valuable contribution to the conservation and management of these areas. We would also like to thank the regional KBA Coordinators, the KBA Technical Committee and the BirdLife branches and affiliates that have embraced the KBA Program in a myriad of ways.

The KBA Program is only possible because of the generous support provided by BirdLife Australia’s donors, and we thank them for their ongoing passion and commitment.

Rio Tinto funded the original IBA identification work in 2006–09.

The following experts contributed to the case studies and content in this report: Dejan Stojanovic and Eric Woehler (Bruny Island); Tim Hosking and Jennifer Spencer (Macquarie Marshes); Adam Peck and Helen Bryant (Northern Swan Coastal Plain); Judith Hoyle, Sheena Gillman, Rochelle Steven and the Queensland Wader Study Group (Moreton Bay and Pumicestone Passage); Barry Baker, Tim Low and Lisa Preston (Christmas Island).

Thanks also to Cara Schultz, Sean Dooley and John Peter for their editorial and production support and to the many photographers who provided images.

BirdLife Australia acknowledges the traditional owners of Country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay respect to them and their cultures, and to their Elders both past and present.

Above Bruny Island KBA. Photo by Barry Baker

Report by Samantha Vine, Golo Maurer, Jenny Lau, Margaret Quixley and Connie Warren

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

At the World Conservation Congress in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 2016, a partnership of 11 of the world’s leading nature conservation organisations launched the new Global Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs). The Standard employs agreed scientific criteria to identify sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity.

For the first time, we have a common language to talk about the most important places left for life on Earth: Key Biodiversity Areas.

What we have discovered is that despite their international significance, many KBAs do not receive the protection they deserve. Less than 20 per cent of Australia’s KBAs are fully protected and many are inadequately managed. As a result, globally important habitat is being lost.

BirdLife International, the world’s largest nature conservation partnership, is tracking the conservation status of over 13,000 sites of international significance for birds through its IBA/KBA program. Community Monitoring (known as ‘KBA Health-checks’ in Australia) reveals that many of the world’s nature hotspots, including sites under strict protection such as national parks, are in danger of losing the biodiversity that makes them important. In response, BirdLife Australia has joined the global effort to identify KBAs that are ‘in Danger’, and to advocate for the conservation solutions needed to save these important habitats and prevent extinctions.

In 2017, 19 of Australia’s 315 KBAs are classified as ‘in Danger’ of losing the species for which they were designated. This includes seven KBAs that have been of concern since BirdLife Australia’s 2014 ‘IBAs in Danger’ campaign. At first glance, this does not look like a good news story. However, these numbers belie the power of the ‘KBAs in Danger’ approach in securing urgent conservation action where it is needed most. Two KBAs highlighted in the 2014 campaign have been removed from the list of ‘KBAs in Danger’ thanks to decisive and collaborative conservation action. Another five are subject to similar conservation work but their ‘in Danger’ status is retained, as their recovery is ongoing.

BirdLife Australia is focusing its 2017 campaign on five different ‘KBAs in Danger’ that represent environmental threats affecting many other KBAs on and off the ‘KBAs in Danger’ list. Each of the ‘KBAs in Danger’ provide habitat for bird species that could soon become extinct if current threats continue. Fortunately, there are straightforward solutions to recover the values of these KBAs. Some of these are easier to implement than others, but we know enough about the threats and the species at risk to turn things around. We simply need the political will and resources to do what needs to be done.

To address these threats, BirdLife Australia is calling on:

• The Australian Government to commit to an end to mining on Christmas Island and to continue to improve the control of invasive species, including tight quarantine to stop the arrival of new species.

• The Australian Government to reject the Murray–Darling Basin Authority’s recommendation to reduce the amount of water recovered for the environment in the Northern Basin by 70 gigalitres per year.

• The Australian Government to terminate the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement that is hastening the extinction of the Swift Parrot.

• The Tasmanian Government to immediately cease clearing of Critically Endangered Swift Parrot breeding habitat.

• The Western Australian and Australian Governments to halt the clearing of critical Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo feeding habitat on the Swan Coastal Plain and to ensure no net loss of habitat in the broader Perth–Peel region.

• The Australian Government to uphold its obligations under the Ramsar Convention and reject the current Toondah Harbour development proposal.

This report provides clear choices and goals to work towards for governments and their agencies, private land managers, local communities, conservation groups and others who are interested in safeguarding Australia’s wildlife. It highlights the most pressing threats facing KBAs today and identifies those areas most at risk of losing their unique values forever. But it also illustrates what has been achieved in KBAs that were designated as ‘in Danger’ in 2014, particularly where conservation solutions have resulted in improvements to the status of these KBAs and the birds that rely on them.

BirdLife Australia is working with local communities to improve recognition of the value of KBAs, and to find solutions to the threats they face. Everyone can play a role in safeguarding the future of Australia’s nature hotspots—will you join us?


INTRODUCTION

Above left Northern Queensland’s Daintree Rainforest KBA. Photo courtesy Shutterstock

Below Gawler Ranges KBA in South Australia. Photo by Glenn Ehmke

Australia’s Key Biodiversity AreasThe Key Biodiversity Area Program is an international, non-governmental conservation partnership which designates sites of global importance for bird and biodiversity conservation, based on strict scientific criteria. In Australia, 315 Key Biodiversity Areas have been identified through these criteria, covering 5.7 per cent of the landmass. An additional suite of KBAs is being considered for marine birds in both offshore and pelagic habitats.

More than 13,000 areas initially identified as Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) form the backbone of the current global KBA network of around 18,000 sites. Australia is no different, with sites first identified as IBAs making up the bulk of the KBA network. An additional 18 ‘Alliance for Zero Extinction’ sites have been identified as meeting KBA criteria, but most of these sites already overlap with the IBA network and only seven are totally new KBAs. Additional sites will be added in the future to achieve coverage for all threatened species and to form a KBA network that is truly representative of Australia’s biodiversity.

KBA? IBA? What’s in a name?Building on BirdLife International’s Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) Program, the Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) Partnership was officially launched in September 2016. An influential group of global conservation organisations, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Global Environment Facility, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Conservation International, Wildlife Conservation Society and WWF, as well as over 120 national conservation bodies, now recognise a single, scientifically robust standard for identifying the world’s most important nature hotspots—places that can ensure the long term survival of our wildlife.

The aim of the KBA Standard is to harmonise existing approaches to the identification of globally important sites for biodiversity. KBAs are designed to support the strategic expansion of protected-area networks by governments and civil society working towards achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets (in particular Targets 11 and 12), and serve to inform the description or identification of sites under international conventions.

With over 18,000 KBAs recognised worldwide, governments and civil society now have an unprecedented opportunity to take action to protect the most important sites to ensure the survival of our planet’s wildlife.

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IBA–KBA transition In 2017, BirdLife Australia is making the transition from IBAs to KBAs, making it one of the first BirdLife International Partners to do so. Other Partners will take longer to make the shift, particularly those where IBA conservation is enshrined in national legislation.

Australia’s IBA Network incorporated nearly two-thirds of all taxa listed as nationally threatened in Australia. Clearly, it makes sense for BirdLife Australia to acknowledge our responsibility for the conservation of all of Australia’s wildlife by making the transition to KBAs. However, the shift from IBAs to KBAs is more than a simple name change—it will be accompanied by policy initiatives and on-ground action to protect more threatened species.

BirdLife Australia’s projects and branches are active in more than half of the country’s KBAs. Much of this work is done in collaboration with over 50 local conservation groups, government agencies and Indigenous groups engaging more than 2,000 volunteers. The benefits of these programs often extend to other taxa as well as the local community. Through the KBA Program, BirdLife Australia will expand these collaborations and develop long-term models for KBA conservation, based on birds as indicators of nature’s hotspots and as flagships for their conservation.

What does the KBA standard mean for Australia?While almost all Australian KBAs meet the global standard based on their bird values alone, an astonishing 1,002 taxa listed as threatened under the Commonwealth Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) [EPBC Act] also occur within the current KBA Network. This figure exceeds 60 per cent of all listed extant taxa.

The non-statutory status of KBAs enables an independent, non-government approach to conservation, and appropriate management of these KBAs should guarantee the survival of almost all of Australia’s bird species.

Australian KBAs provide clear direction for community-based organisations, such as BirdLife Australia and its branches and affiliates, and other local environmental groups, to tackle the most pressing conservation issues, with local actions having a cumulative impact on global conservation.

Above The Endangered Southern Cassowary is one of the Daintree KBA’s key species. Photo by Lachlan Hall

KBA criteriaKBA designation is based on five criteria described in The Global Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas . A simplified list of criteria as they apply to Australian KBAs identified for their bird values is below.

A. Threatened Biodiversity KBA supports more than a threshold proportion of a species listed by IUCN as globally Vulnerable (threshold 1%), Endangered (threshold 0.5%) or Critically Endangered (threshold 0.5%).

B. Geographically Restricted Biodiversity This applies to species or assemblages and requires a threshold of 10 per cent of a single species or 1 per cent for each species in assemblages of restricted range species.

C. Ecological Integrity A site is the sole or one of two sites with a specific ecological community wholly intact.

D. Biological Processes A site predictably holds congregations representing ≥1 per cent of the global population of a species.

E. Irreplaceability through quantitative analysis Level of irreplaceability ≥0.90 (on a 0–1 scale), measured by quantitative spatial analysis.


SNAPSHOT OF KBAS IN 2017

Above This view to Nourlangie from Anbangbang Billabong takes in the three KBAs found in Kakadu National Park—the Arnhem Plateau, Alligator Rivers Floodplains and Kakadu Savanna. Photo by Ashley Whitworth

Opposite page The Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon is a restricted range specialist found in Kakadu’s Arnhem Plateau KBA. Photo by Gerard Satherly

Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) monitoring is essential to track and respond quickly to threats, to understand the status and trends of biodiversity, and to assess the effectiveness of conservation efforts. The simple monitoring framework used across the BirdLife International Partnership allows national data to be pooled and analysed regionally and globally to inform international conservation efforts.

How do we measure KBA health?KBA monitoring provides a standardised method to score the threats to KBAs (‘Pressure’), the condition (‘State’) and conservation actions in KBAs (‘Response’). BirdLife International maintains a database of all KBAs, including a summary of their condition and significant threats to individual trigger species or their habitats. Each threat is scored on a scale of 0–3 for its timing, proportion of habitat or population affected (scale) and severity, giving a sum total score for each threat: Low (0–2), Medium (3–5), High (6–7) or Very High (8–9). This scoring system is repeatable and detailed without being prohibitively complex, allowing local monitors to produce robust threat assessments. Many KBAs, even those in formally protected areas, are subject to a Low level of threat from a range of continental-scale impacts, such as introduced species; a Medium threat level should act as a trigger for action. However, over half of Australia’s KBAs have a High threat level, each of which is of national concern. Many of these are systemic landscape-scale threats, such as fire and water management, which require national solutions supported by natural-resource users and regulators, while some are specific to individual KBAs and can best be resolved locally. KBAs with Very High threat levels are rapidly losing their conservation value and require urgent action. These threats are immediate (scoring 3 for timing), affecting >50 per cent or > 90 per cent of the population or habitat of a trigger species (scoring 2 or 3 respectively for scale), and causing a loss of >10 per cent or > 30 per cent of the population or habitat of a trigger species over three generations (scoring 2 or 3 respectively for severity).

Regularly assessing KBA statusTo date, the condition of Australia’s KBAs has been assessed three times—in 2008, 2014 and most recently in 2016. In 2016, BirdLife Australia initiated the Easter Health-check to generate an annual snapshot of the

conservation status of Australia’s nature hotspots. A team of dedicated volunteer KBA Guardians used the methodology described above to conduct the inaugural Easter Health-check in over 50 KBAs nationwide. It highlighted invasive animals, recreational use, development and the effects of climate change as pervasive threats to monitored KBAs. Many of these KBAs are near cities and regional centres where threats are often a consequence of population growth. Other national scale threats such as fire and water management were picked up in regional KBAs. The good news coming out of the Health-checks is that over 50 organisations and more than 400 volunteers are involved in conservation actions in monitored KBAs.

State of our KBAsAt a national scale, the biggest improvement to Australia’s KBA network in the last few years has resulted from a combination of environmental water allocations and increased natural rainfall rejuvenating long-dry wetlands. Many of these wetland KBAs are currently not under Very High threat, but maintaining their condition requires ongoing prioritisation of environmental flows—as we move from La Niña to El Niño regimes, reduced rainfall in south-eastern Australia is likely to put pressure on these fragile systems once more.

Planned or unplanned fires that are too frequent, intense or extensive threaten many of Australia’s KBAs. Against a backdrop of climate change, which is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of fires in some parts of Australia, inappropriate fire regimes increasingly pose a threat to birds and their habitats. Of particular concern is the increasing potential for catastrophic fires to cause extinctions by wiping out entire populations. Appropriate fire management has improved the status of some threatened species and resulted in KBAs being taken off the ‘in Danger’ list (see page 8 ). Given the complexity of managing fire for threatened species—and biodiversity more generally—BirdLife Australia continues to advocate for the listing of inappropriate fire regimes that cause biodiversity decline as a Key Threatening Process under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

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KBAs in DangerBirdLife Australia’s ‘KBAs in Danger’ campaign is part of a global effort to identify sites that are ‘in Danger’ and campaign for the conservation solutions needed to protect critical habitat and prevent extinctions.

The decision to declare a KBA as ‘in Danger’ is not taken lightly. Only KBAs experiencing Very High levels of threat are considered. In Australia, the ‘in Danger’ declaration is made by BirdLife Australia and BirdLife International after consultation with external experts. This process ensures our conservation effort is targeted to areas most urgently in need of advocacy and action. It should be noted that this list may be incomplete as regular monitoring is yet to be implemented for many Australian KBAs. Thus, the absence of a KBA from the ‘in Danger’ list does not preclude it from facing serious threats.

In 2017, 19 of Australia’s 315 KBAs are classified as ‘in Danger’ of losing the species they were declared for. This includes seven KBAs that have been of concern since BirdLife Australia’s 2014 IBAs in Danger campaign. Two KBAs highlighted in the 2014 campaign have been taken off the ‘in Danger’ list. The other five are subject to similar conservation work, but their ‘in Danger’ status is retained as their recovery is ongoing.

Australia’s ‘KBAs in Danger’ include areas under pressure from development, forestry, unsustainable water management, inappropriate fire regimes and invasive species (Table 1). Many of these threats are exacerbated by climate change.

BirdLife Australia is focusing its 2017 campaign on five ‘KBAs in Danger’ that, while of concern in their own right, also represent environmental threats affecting many other KBAs on and off the ‘in Danger’ list. These five KBAs are profiled in subsequent pages. They include much-loved national parks that many would have considered ‘safe’, as well as urban areas and popular holiday destinations. Each of the ‘KBAs in Danger’ provides important habitat for the species they were declared for.

KBA Name State Key species threatened Threat Threat in 2008 Threat in 2014 Threat in 2017

Bellarine Wetlands VIC Wetland birds Development High High Very High

Billiatt SA Mallee Emu-wren Fire Medium Very High Very High

Bruny Island TAS Swift Parrot Forestry Low Low Very High

Coorong SA Fairy Tern Water Very High High Very High

Christmas Island WA Abbott’s Booby Invasive species Very High Very High Very High

Gwydir Wetlands NSW Wetland birds Water Very High Very High Very High

Lake Corangamite Complex VIC Wetland birds Water High High Very High

Lower Hunter Valley NSW Regent Honeyeater Development Low Very High Very High

Macquarie Marshes NSW Australasian Bittern Water Very High High Very High

Menindee Lakes NSW Wetland birds Water High High Very High

Moreton Bay & Pumicestone Passage QLD Eastern Curlew Development Low Low Very High

Murray-Sunset, Hattah and Annuello VIC Mallee Emu-wren Fire Medium Very High Very High

Narran Wetlands NSW Straw-necked Ibis Water High High Very High

Northern Swan Coastal Plain WA Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo Development High High Very High

Patho Plains VIC Plains-wanderer Agriculture Medium Very High Very High

Port Fairy to Warrnambool VIC Hooded Plover Recreation Medium Medium Very High

Port McArthur Tidal Wetlands System NT Chestnut Rail Climate Change Medium Medium Very High

Riverina Plains NSW Plains-wanderer Agriculture Medium Very High Very High

Wyperfeld, Big Desert and Ngarkat VIC & SA Mallee Emu-wren Fire Medium Very High Very High

Table One: KBAs with very high threats in 2017


IBAS IN DANGER 2014

In 2014, BirdLife Australia identified five Australian Important Bird & Biodiversity Areas (IBAs: now KBAs) in danger of losing their important biodiversity values. These sites were assessed as facing Very High levels of threats, which had worsened since 2008, and required urgent conservation action to prevent the loss of the trigger species for which they were designated. A number of positive conservation actions have been undertaken in most of these KBAs since our campaign. While further action is still required in most cases, the future of at least four of the five flagship species now looks more secure than it did in 2014.

Norfolk Island KBAThe Critically Endangered Norfolk Island Green Parrot is one of the world’s rarest birds. Although saved from the brink of extinction in the 1990s, by 2013 the Norfolk Island Green Parrot population was again thought to be perilously small. An alliance between BirdLife Australia, The Nature Conservancy, Island Conservation and the Norfolk Island Flora and Fauna Society commissioned a report from parakeet expert Dr Luis Ortiz-Catedral. He estimated that between 42 and 96 individuals survived, and as few as 11 breeding-aged female Green Parrots remained.

Since then, improved management—including 80 rodent-proof nest sites, combined with intense rat and cat control around active nests—has been the cornerstone of an amazing recovery. Today, the adult population of the Norfolk Island Green Parrot is around 350 to 400 birds.

In 2017, BirdLife Australia is partnering with the Norfolk Island National Park to take the next step to ensure the species’ long term survival. A total of 30 fledgling Green Parrots will be moved to nearby Phillip Island, also a KBA. The establishment of an insurance population will complete the final Green Parrot recommendation in the 2014 IBAs in Danger report, and has been made possible by the support of more than 680 people who generously donated over $77,000 to the ‘Operation Green Parrot’ crowdfunding campaign.

Murray Sunset, Hattah and Annuello KBAsSouth-eastern Australia’s Murray–Mallee provides critical habitat for a number of threatened birds, including the Endangered Mallee Emu-wren. Extensive land clearing has left the mallee fragmented, making these birds highly susceptible to wildfire.

In 2014, BirdLife Australia held grave concerns for the future of the Mallee Emu-wren after fires caused their extinction in South Australia, confining the species to only two areas in Victoria. Alarmingly, Victoria’s policy at the time was to burn five per cent of public land annually, and areas known to support important populations of Mallee Emu-wrens were earmarked for planned burning, potentially pushing these birds to the brink of extinction.

Since then, BirdLife Australia has worked closely with governments, universities and zoos to develop a Conservation Action Plan for mallee birds. Funding was secured for studies to support a translocation program for the Mallee Emu-wren. In the process, researchers discovered a third Victorian population and determined that South Australia’s Ngarkat Conservation Park is the most suitable site for a reintroduction program.

Working with fire managers and local communities, BirdLife Australia’s advocacy efforts have prevented the most damaging planned burns and seen the Victorian Government invest in research to understand the fire ecology and management needs of Mallee Emu-wren. In 2015, the Victorian Government adopted a more strategic, risk-based approach to fire management, but while policy settings and management for Mallee KBAs have improved, large-scale fire is an ever present risk to Mallee Emu-wrens and other threatened mallee birds.

Boodjamulla KBAThe Carpentarian Grasswren is the ‘canary in the coal mine’ for the spinifex grassland ecosystems of northern Australia. Large wildfires and burns designed to promote grazing restricted the species to three sites in north Queensland, including the Boodjamulla and Buckley River KBAs.

BirdLife Australia’s 2014 ‘IBAs in Danger’ campaign called for improved fire management in the Boodjamulla and Buckley River KBAs, specifically seeking the Queensland Government’s commitment to a ten-year program of early dry season prescribed burning, with annual reporting against specific measurable targets.

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Above left

Carpentarian Grasswren habitat in the Boodjamulla KBA. Photo by Graham Chapman

Above right

Carpentarian Grasswren. Photo by Geoff Jones

Robust monitoring by BirdLife Australia’s volunteers revealed the scale of the Carpentarian Grasswren’s decline. The data was used to support its listing as Endangered under Australian legislation in 2016, in turn prompting the Southern Gulf Natural Resource Management body to direct funds towards working with private and Indigenous land managers to improve fire management for the species. The scope of this project has been substantially increased after a generous grant from the Glencore Community Program.

Thanks to the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Department of Environment and Heritage, fire management in Boodjamulla National Park has been outstanding in recent years, helping to create a varied age structure of the Grasswren’s spinifex habitat that will support populations of the Grasswren and reduce the scale and severity of summer wildfires.

Patho Plains and Riverina Plains KBAsThe Critically Endangered Plains-wanderer is one of the world’s most genetically distinct bird species. Around 80 per cent of the world’s Plains-wanderer population is restricted to the Patho Plains and Riverina Plains KBAs. Favouring sparse grasslands in low rainfall areas, their range continues to contract due to agricultural encroachment.

In 2014, alarm bells were ringing loudly for the Plains-wanderer as the population fell by more than 90 per cent due to higher rainfall and under-grazing of grassland habitat across its range.

In late 2014, BirdLife Australia hosted a meeting between governments, NGOs and zoos to develop a way forward for the species. Two years later, the species has a national recovery plan, with a new recovery team identifying key strategies to reverse its decline. The Plains-wanderer is a priority species for investment by both the Federal and NSW Governments, and in late 2016, for the first time in 30 years, the Plains-wanderer was bred in captivity as part of a partnership between the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and Taronga Zoo.

Given the low numbers of birds in the wild, establishing a captive insurance population is a key part of the recovery strategy, as is improved management of grazing regimes to maintain suitable habitat, and enhanced habitat protection to improve the quality and increase the extent of habitat suitable for the Plains-wanderer. While the Plains-wanderer is still Critically Endangered, these efforts will give the species its best chance of survival.

Lower Hunter Valley KBAThe Lower Hunter Valley KBA is a vital refuge for woodland birds including the Critically Endangered Regent Honeyeater and Swift Parrot. In 2014, the most important site within this KBA—the Tomalpin Woodlands—was threatened by plans to develop it as an industrial site known as the Hunter Economic Zone (HEZ).

This development would have been catastrophic to the Regent Honeyeater, with data showing that, for example, in 2007–8, an estimated 108 Regent Honeyeaters inhabited the HEZ, with at least 19 nests recorded. They produced at least 29 fledglings—one of the most significant recruitments of birds into the population recorded in recent years. With fewer than 400 adult Regent Honeyeaters remaining in the wild, this represents around 25 per cent of this species’ current global population.

In 2012, the area again supported up to 50 Regent Honeyeaters, with birds present for six months, highlighting the ongoing importance of this eucalypt forest and woodland.

To date, the development has not occurred, and in 2016 a strong message was sent to would-be developers when a case in the NSW Land and Environment Court found in favour of Regent Honeyeaters with the judge stating that, “Preservation of this area is... of vital importance to the long-term survival of the species.” In December 2016, over 850 hectares of the Tomalpin Woodlands were burnt, including all of the documented Regent Honeyeater breeding sites, highlighting the need for appropriate management of the bushland.


KBAS IN DANGER 2017

Above left Rainforest in the Christmas Island KBA. Photo by Ingo Arndt

Opposite page right Abbott’s Booby. Photo by Ian Montgomery

KBAS IN DANGERKBAS UNDER THREATKBAS

Macquarie Island

Lord Howe Island

Norfolk Island

Heard & McDonald Islands

NORTHERN SWAN COASTAL PLAIN

BRUNY ISLAND

MACQUARIE MARSHES

CHRISTMAS ISLAND

PROFILING FIVE KBAS IN DANGER, 2017

MORETON BAY AND PUMICESTONE PASSAGE

Mining

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A major challenge for society is to balance our need for mineral resources with the potential for mining to irreversibly damage our environment. This complex challenge is made more difficult by the fact that nature’s long-term value is more difficult to quantify—in both abstract and economic terms—than the short-term value of tradable commodities.

KBAs can play a crucial role in addressing this challenge in two ways: first, by identifying the most important places for wildlife; and second, by working with communities on their sustainable use and conservation. Many Australian KBAs are directly or indirectly affected by mining, but the Christmas Island KBA provides a perfect example of the potential for mining to irrevocably impact on a KBA’s biodiversity and opportunities for sustainable use in the future.

KBA in Danger: Christmas IslandChristmas Island’s six endemic species of birds are among its best-known indicators of biodiversity, but this small tropical island also supports at least 254 endemic taxa and is an internationally significant seabird island, providing habitat for thousands of seabirds including the Christmas Island Frigatebird and the Christmas Island White-tailed Tropicbird. The Critically Endangered Abbott’s Booby, an archaic species that is among the planet’s most evolutionary distinct birds, has already disappeared from all its other breeding sites. Christmas Island is its last refuge.

Many of these unique species rely on the island’s lush rainforest. Unfortunately, the diversity of this rainforest ecosystem is underpinned by rich phosphate deposits that have been mined in some parts of the island since 1898. These deposits are of increasing commercial interest as the demand for fertilizer grows in the palm oil plantations of South East Asia and elsewhere. Phosphate mining is highly destructive, requiring the removal of forest cover and topsoil which makes forest recovery in the mined areas extremely difficult. Already, about 25 per cent of Christmas Island’s forest cover has been lost to mining and other human activities.

Abbott’s Boobies, Christmas Island Frigatebirds and Christmas Island White-tailed Tropicbirds all nest in trees (although the Tropicbird sometimes also nest in rock crevices) and rely on intact forest to breed. Where the forest cover is disrupted, even by relatively small gaps, wind turbulence generated in these gaps endangers nests, eggs and chicks. This means the destructive footprint of logging to make way for phosphate mining extends far beyond the area cleared.

Mining can also facilitate and exacerbate the impacts of invasive species. Christmas Island’s list of invasive animals and plants includes many species known to wreak environmental devastation on island ecology, including (but not limited to): Black Rats, Cats, Wolf Snakes, Yellow Crazy Ants and the invasive vine, Antigonon leptopus. Any disturbance of native vegetation, even for exploration drilling rather than full-scale mining exploration, opens the forest to these aggressive invaders. Some of these species prey directly on Christmas Island’s endemic species, while others change the forest structure and so disrupt the breeding or feeding of native animals.

The sad result of this broad-scale attack on Christmas Island is the global extinction of four of its five endemic species of mammals and the loss of at least three species of endemic reptiles from the wild.

The further loss of Christmas Island’s diversity and unique beauty to mining would curtail other, more sustainable economic opportunities that could provide long-term job security for islanders, such as ecotourism. The island’s vicinity to Asian population centres and its unique biodiversity gives it a strategic advantage for developing ethical nature tourism—but only if the island manages to retain its natural assets.

Parks Australia, which manages the Christmas Island National Park, is taking on this challenge. Staff are actively working on controlling invasive species and restoring rainforest habitat, often under trying conditions—but with each cut to the rainforest this challenge becomes more difficult. Christmas Island is in danger of losing its biodiversity but it does not need to be—the path to a more sustainable future is clear.

BirdLife Australia is calling on the Australian Government to commit to an end to mining on Christmas Island and to continue to improve the control of invasive species, including tight quarantine to stop the arrival of new species.

There is also an urgent need for further research on threatened taxa to facilitate direct conservation actions on and off the island. Now is the time to stop the extinction crisis on Christmas Island and safeguard what we have left.


KBAS IN DANGER 2017

Above Emus run through the Macquarie Marshes KBA. Photo by Bruce Elder

Access to fresh water is a source of conflict for communities across the world. In Australia, this conflict is most evident in our major ‘food bowl’, the Murray–Darling Basin, which also supports some of Australia’s most important habitat for colonially breeding waterbirds and for threatened species such as the Endangered Australasian Bittern and Australian Painted Snipe.

For decades, land clearing, reduced water flows and poor water quality have contributed to a dramatic decline in the extent and health of wetland KBAs in the Basin—from the Macquarie Marshes, Gwydir Wetlands and Narran Lakes in the north, through to the Coorong in the south.

The 2012 Murray–Darling Basin Plan was meant to address this decline with an aim to “protect, restore and provide for the ecological values and ecosystem services of the Murray–Darling Basin.” However, bitter political wrangling resulted in a highly compromised plan that will never recover sufficient water to meet key environmental targets. Now the plan is under attack again, with the environment, including wetland KBAs such as the Macquarie Marshes, likely to lose out once more.

KBA in Danger: Macquarie MarshesThe Macquarie Marshes is one of the largest semi-permanent wetland systems in eastern Australia. It is recognised as one of the most important areas for Australia’s waterbirds, providing habitat for 72 species, including 43 species that breed there. While the Marshes regularly support more than 20,000 waterbirds, this can climb to over half a million during large floods. The area is also an acknowledged

MACQUARIE MARSHES

refuge for waterbirds during dry times and the surrounding forests and woodlands provide habitat for declining populations of woodland birds.

Less well known is the importance of the Macquarie Marshes to the Endangered Australasian Bittern, one of the trigger species for which the Marshes were declared a KBA. The Marshes’ extensive reedbeds and sedgelands provide high quality breeding and foraging habitat for Australasian Bitterns, but like many of the once-extensive wetlands in the Murray–Darling Basin, the over-extraction of water and land use for agriculture, combined with drought, have greatly reduced the extent and quality of these habitats, with large areas transitioning to chenopod shrubland.

In the early 1990s, an area of around 72,000 hectares of semi-permanent wetland vegetation was mapped in the Macquarie Marshes. More recent vegetation mapping indicates this area has declined since then, with a core of approximately 20,000 hectares present in areas of private and public land, including the Ramsar-listed Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve. So great are the changes in, and concern for, the state of the Macquarie Marshes that in 2009 the Australian Government notified the Ramsar General Secretary of a likely change of ecological character in parts of this Ramsar site; the notification remains in place today.

The decline in the quality and extent of Bittern habitat is reflected in data from BirdLife Australia’s Atlas program, which shows a decline in the reporting rate for Australasian Bitterns between 1977–81 and 2005–09.

Little is known about use of the Marshes by Australasian Bitterns because their favoured reedbed and sedgeland habitats are too dense and difficult to access. This difficulty is most evident when the Marshes experience a large flood, such as the exceptional flood of spring 2016 that resulted in more than 15,000 hectares of ‘prime’reed bed and sedgeland habitat for Bitterns—including the largest reedbed in the Murray–Darling Basin, at over 4,000 hectares.

Anecdotal reports from bird sound recordists present in the Monkeygar Swamp reedbed in October 2016 identified approximately 15 individual booming male Bitterns in a one-kilometre stretch of roadside. Annual spring ground surveys (2012–16) have also detected Bitterns at five of

Water management

APRIL 2017 I 13

the 35 wetland monitoring sites established by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. While these surveys are not designed specifically to detect Bitterns, the presence of calling Bitterns in three of the five years of the surveys indicates that the Marshes continue to provide high quality breeding habitat for Australasian Bitterns.

Secure environmental water is critical to the conservation of habitat for Australasian Bitterns in the Marshes and water managers have the difficult and complex task of using limited environmental water to meet the competing requirements of the Marshes’ distinct ecological communities. Reedbeds require regular, seasonal watering—ideally every year. Less frequent watering carries a high risk that the long-term health of the reedbeds will be compromised. This is in contrast to the semi-permanent River Red Gum wetlands that provide habitat for colonial breeding waterbirds, which can survive for several years without flooding. Extended dry periods are particularly challenging, and given predictions that climate change will lead to increasingly long, severe droughts, the risk to Bitterns and their habitat is becoming increasingly difficult to manage and plan for.

In 2013, the Wetlands and inner floodplains of the Macquarie Marshes were listed as an Endangered ecological community under the EPBC Act. While this listing was initially supported by government, subsequent political pressure saw the decision reversed. However, this decision was mere politics; in reality, the Macquarie Marshes are at great risk of ongoing decline and loss of biodiversity, a situation which will only be made worse by any further loss of environmental water.

In late 2016, the Murray–Darling Basin Authority released its Northern Basin Review, recommending that the amount of water recovered for the environment across Northern Basin catchments be reduced from 390 to 320 gigalitres per year (a loss of 18 per cent) to lessen the social and economic impacts of water recovery on local communities. The proposal would lead to reductions in the volume of environmental water available for the Macquarie Marshes, Gwydir Wetlands and Narran Lakes.

BirdLife Australia has no doubt that the proposed reduction in water recovery for the environment will further compromise the health of KBAs across the Northern Basin, with flow-on effects for the Menindee Lakes, Lakes Alexandrina and Albert, and the Coorong KBAs.

BirdLife Australia is calling on the Australian Government to reject the Murray–Darling Basin Authority’s recommendation to reduce the amount of water recovered for the environment in the Northern Basin by 70 gigalitres per year.

From top The strikingly beautiful Macquarie Marshes KBA. Photo by Bruce Elder

Australasian Bittern. Photo by Andrew Silcocks

Australian Painted Snipe. Photo by Chris Tzaros

Straw-necked Ibis. Photo by Dean Ingwersen


KBAS IN DANGER 2017

Above The stunning beaches and forested hills of the Bruny Island KBA. Photo courtesy Shutterstock

Much of the world’s biodiversity occurs in forests—nearly two-thirds of all bird species are found in them. Deforestation as a result of human actions poses a major global threat to birdlife. Deforestation is nothing new, but has accelerated dramatically over the past century, with 130,000 square kilometres of forest cleared each year, of which around half is primary forest. Deforestation also affects the world’s climate, accounting for about 20 per cent of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions every year .

KBA in Danger: Bruny Island The identification of the Bruny Island KBA and the nearby South-east Tasmania KBA was based on core breeding habitat of the Critically Endangered Swift Parrot. Swift Parrots are nomadic migrants, spending the winter following tree flowering across Victoria, NSW, the ACT and Queensland, and migrating south to Tasmania in the summer to breed. The birds nest in the hollows of old trees that may take hundreds of years to form, and feed on the flowers of nearby Tasmanian Blue Gums or Black Gums to raise their young. Swift Parrots cannot breed successfully without co-occurrence of tree hollows and flowering forest.

Bruny Island also supports internationally important habitat for the Endangered Forty-spotted Pardalote and a suite of other threatened flora and fauna. Unfortunately, both Bruny Island and the South-east Tasmania KBAs are threatened by ongoing deforestation caused by logging, despite their critical importance to Tasmanian biodiversity.

This is despite the listing of the Swift Parrot as Critically Endangered by the Australian Government (and the IUCN) in 2016. This listing recognises that the species is rapidly heading for extinction. According to expert assessment, the population of Swift Parrots could decline by as much as 94 per cent over the next 16 years. The destruction of habitat by forestry activities is documented in the National Recovery Plan for the species as the main threat to its survival.

BRUNY ISLAND

Forestry

APRIL 2017 I 15

In addition, recent studies by scientists from the Australian National University found that nest predation by introduced Sugar Gliders is worse in areas where deforestation is severe. In the South-east Tasmania KBA, precious few offspring survive in the most severely logged landscapes. Bruny Island is free of Sugar Gliders, meaning that this island ark may be the KBA on which the continued existence of the Swift Parrot depends.

Yet, despite the species’ perilous situation, the Tasmanian Government continues to log Swift Parrot breeding habitat in the South-east Tasmania KBA. Logging persists under a deal between the Tasmanian and Commonwealth Governments, known as the Regional Forest Agreement (RFA). The RFA deal exempts the Swift Parrot from the provisions of the Commonwealth’s EPBC Act, which is intended to protect nationally Endangered species.

The Tasmanian RFA is due to expire in November 2017, but the Tasmanian Government has already begun signalling its plans to seek renewal of the RFA and to accelerate deforestation, including a resumption of logging on Bruny Island. It is imperative that the Tasmanian RFA is removed, so the Commonwealth Government can once again intervene if the Tasmanian Government has plans that will drive a species down the path to extinction.

BirdLife Australia is calling on the Australian Government to terminate the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement that is hastening the extinction of the Swift Parrot.

We are also asking the Tasmanian Government to permanently protect Swift Parrot habitat on Bruny Island and mature forests across the South-east Tasmania KBA.

BirdLife Australia is calling on the Tasmanian Government to immediately stop logging Swift Parrot breeding habitat.

From top

Tree Ferns line a gully in the Bruny Island KBA. Photo by Brad Moriarty

Swift Parrot. Photo by Chris Tzaros

Forty-spotted Pardalote. Photo by Chris Tzaros

Pink Robin. Photo by Chris Tzaros


KBAS IN DANGER 2017

Infrastructure development

Above

The sun sets over the calm waters of the Moreton Bay and Pumicestone Passage KBA. Photo by Meg Forbes

Around the world, infrastructure for housing, industry, water, energy and transport networks is destroying and degrading natural habitats. The expansion of the human-built environment has a significant impact on biodiversity, primarily through the destruction, degradation and fragmentation of natural habitats. It has been identified as a key threat to many species, with residential and commercial development posing the greatest threat. Even small-scale, individual proposals can contribute to a cumulative loss of habitat for birds and biodiversity. Many of Australia’s KBAs are outside formally protected areas, or cross public–private boundaries, making them vulnerable to development.

KBA in Danger: Northern Swan Coastal Plain Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo is one of just three black-cockatoos endemic to south-western Australia and is one of the trigger species in Perth’s Northern Swan Coastal Plain KBA. Since European settlement, progressive clearing of the species’ feeding, nesting and roosting habitat has seen its numbers plummet and its geographic footprint contract. Between the 1970s and 1990s, the Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo disappeared from over one-third of its range, which is continuing to diminish as habitat clearing precedes increasing urban development.

Of the two subpopulations of Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos, the one nearest Perth is the more genetically diverse. With around 12,000 individuals, the Perth birds represent approximately one-third of the total population. Alarmingly, annual surveys undertaken since 2006 have revealed that

NORTHERN SWAN COASTAL PLAIN

this population is in sharp decline, falling by over 50 per cent since 2010 alone. This downward trajectory has been directly attributed to the loss of crucial feeding habitat on the Swan Coastal Plain.

Historically, Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos fed on the seeds of native trees such as eucalypts, hakeas, grevilleas and banksias. However, the clearance of 70 per cent of banksia woodland on the Swan Coastal Plain has led to a shift in the species’ feeding habits, with birds supplementing their diet with the seeds of pine trees in plantations north of Perth.

The largest of these plantations, Gnangara, now provides the most important roosting and feeding sites for Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos on the Swan Coastal Plain. More than half of the subpopulation relies on pine cones in Gnangara for food, and nearly two-thirds of the Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos recorded in the Perth–Peel Coastal Plain have been found to roost in this single plantation. This site now provides habitat critical to the survival of the species.

However, since 2004, these plantations have been harvested—without replacement—at a rate of around 1,000 hectares each year. At its largest, this plantation spanned 23,000 hectares; today, there are only around 7,000 hectares. All remaining feeding and roosting trees will be lost by 2020 if the current draft of the Green Growth Plan for the Perth–Peel region is implemented, as the Plan includes the total clearance of the Gnangara Pine Plantation. This accelerated clearance is predicted to result in a further 43 per cent decline in the Perth subpopulation of Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos.

There can be no doubt that the progressive removal of pine trees, combined with ongoing clearing of native feed trees, is driving the subpopulation of Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos around Perth inexorably towards extinction. The recent listing of the Banksia Woodlands of the Swan Coastal Plain as an Endangered Ecological Community under the EPBC Act further underscores

APRIL 2017 I 17

Western Australia’s responsibility to protect this critical habitat. Yet the so-called ‘Green Growth’ Plan also proposes the clearance of a further 9,700 hectares of banksia woodlands on the Swan Coastal Plain.

The only way to bring this population back from the brink of extinction is to halt the clearing of critical habitat immediately until alternative food sources become available. Any future urban planning process must align with the recovery actions set out in the Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo Recovery Plan to meet the state’s obligations to protect and conserve this Endangered species.

BirdLife Australia is calling on the Western Australian and Australian Governments to halt the clearing of critical feeding and roosting habitat on the Swan Coastal Plain and to ensure there is no net loss of Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo habitat in the broader Perth–Peel region.

KBA in Danger: Moreton Bay and Pumicestone Passage The Moreton Bay and Pumicestone Passage KBA is an internationally significant wetland for the Eastern Curlew, the world’s largest migratory shorebird, endemic to the East Asian–Australasian Flyway (EAAF). As well as regularly supporting more than one per cent of the world population of Eastern Curlews, this KBA regularly supports more than 40 other species of migratory and resident shorebirds, with shorebird numbers in the Moreton Bay area swelling to over 40,000 in summer.

The Moreton Bay and Pumicestone Passage KBA is listed under the Ramsar Convention, an internationally binding treaty that requires contracting parties to protect and manage listed wetlands effectively. It is also one of 136 Flyway Network Sites recognised by the EAAF Partnership, reflecting the site’s global significance for conserving migratory shorebirds across the EAAF. Despite this, historic and ongoing development around Moreton Bay has resulted in the loss of large areas of feeding and roosting habitat for the Eastern Curlew and other shorebirds.

The Eastern Curlew is a coastal obligate, feeding and roosting on and near expansive tidal flats in Australia and along the EAAF. Every spring, more than three-quarters of the world population of Eastern Curlew visit Australia’s shores after breeding in Russia and north-eastern China during the Arctic summer. However, ongoing coastal development across its range has resulted in a population decline of over

From top

The Firewood Banksia, one of the favoured food sources of Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos. Photo by Katherine Sambrooks

Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo. Photo by Keith Lightbody

Eastern Curlew. Photo by Duade Paton

Bar-tailed Godwits. Photo by Chris Purnell


Above

Eastern Curlews roost at Broadwater, part of the Moreton Bay and Pumicestone Passage KBA. Photo by Todd Burrows

KBAS IN DANGER 2017

80 per cent over only 30 years. In 2015, the Eastern Curlew was listed as Critically Endangered under the EPBC Act. It is protected under the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), as well as by three migratory bird agreements, with Japan (JAMBA), China (CAMBA) and the Republic of Korea (ROKAMBA).

Now, a proposed development for Toondah Harbour in Cleveland by Walker Group Holdings could cause a further reduction of the feeding and roosting habitat of the Eastern Curlew, encroaching on more than 43 hectares of the Moreton Bay Ramsar site.

The adverse affects of the development on the Eastern Curlew and other migratory shorebird species would extend beyond the direct loss of feeding habitat at the site. The area earmarked for development is part of a network of feeding and roosting habitats that supports over 500 Eastern Curlews and other shorebirds. Destruction of parts of this network could result in the abandonment of larger areas of habitat.

The proposed development will also lead to increased human activity near the high-tide roosts used by Eastern Curlews and will probably result in the abandonment of these roosts. As a result, the proposed Toondah Harbour development would substantially contribute to the ongoing decline of migratory shorebirds feeding and roosting in Moreton Bay and along the EAAF.

MORETON BAY AND PUMICESTONE

PASSAGE

BirdLife Australia is not opposed to sensitive development at Toondah Harbour. In 2016, we presented an alternative development proposal to both the State and Federal Governments. The alternative proposal outlined plans to revitalise Toondah Harbour without encroaching on the Ramsar boundary or causing further loss of habitat for shorebirds.

As a nation that provides essential non-breeding sites for the majority of the world’s population of Eastern Curlews, Australia has a responsibility to protect important Eastern Curlew habitat and to uphold its international obligations under the Ramsar Convention. BirdLife Australia argues that deliberate destruction of the wetland habitat would have unacceptable impacts on this Critically Endangered species and a wetland of international importance.

Through the Australian Government’s recently released Wildlife Conservation Plan for Migratory Shorebirds, Australia made a strong commitment to the protection of migratory shorebird habitat throughout the EAAF. Australia must honour this commitment and ensure that any proposed development for the Moreton Bay and Pumicestone Passage KBA are consistent with our international agreements, including Ramsar, CMS, JAMBA, CAMBA, ROKAMBA and the Far Eastern Curlew Single Species Action Plan.

BirdLife Australia is calling on the Australian Government to uphold its obligations under the Ramsar Convention and reject the current Toondah Harbour development proposal.

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APRIL 2017 I 19

CONCLUSIONS

Australia is in the unenviable position of having at least 19 sites with globally important bird habitat under Very High levels of threat. This is symptomatic of the danger facing much of Australia’s biodiversity, with the Federal Government’s 2016 State of the Environment report highlighting the ongoing decline of many of Australia’s unique species and ecological communities due to the cumulative impacts of multiple threats.

KBAs can play an important role in helping Australia meet the challenges of conserving biodiversity by identifying the most important places to target conservation actions and by engaging communities in their protection and management.

Protecting the right places: KBAs can lead the wayUnder the Convention on Biological Diversity’s ‘Aichi’ Target 11, world governments have committed to conserving at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland waters by 2020, “especially areas of particular importance to biodiversity[…] through protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures.”

KBAs can help Australia meet Target 11 by providing direction for the future expansion of Australia’s National Reserve System (NRS) to make it more ecologically representative and to ensure it protects areas of importance to biodiversity.

While Australia has made significant progress towards Target 11, by overlaying KBAs with Australia’s existing protected areas we see important gaps in the NRS where key bird species are unprotected or under-protected. Around half of the KBA network has some level of protection (53.75 per cent) but the average overlap of the NRS per KBA is less than half (48.74 per cent). Around 21 per cent of Australia’s KBAs are fully protected within the NRS (only 66 of 315 KBAs), while almost 17 per cent (53 of 315) of our KBAs lack any formal protection within the NRS.

How to protect KBAsPermanently protecting areas is one of the most important ways to conserve biodiversity. However, sufficiently rapid expansion of the formal protected area network by 2020 is likely to be extremely challenging. Furthermore, without adequate management of threats, even sites that have legal protection can be at risk of losing the values that make them special. It is therefore likely that “other effective area-based conservation measures” (OECMs) will need to play an important role in meeting Target 11. OECMs include approaches such as locally managed marine areas, community forests, Indigenous reserves and privately conserved areas.

The most appropriate way to conserve an area’s biodiversity can therefore vary, depending on circumstances. It may not always be feasible or desirable to incorporate KBAs into formal protected area networks.

In fact, there may be cases where formal gazetting may disrupt the existing traditional land-use practices responsible for maintaining a site’s significance.

Whatever the governance model for a KBA, community engagement and involvement in its conservation is desirable and often essential. Increasingly, this is achieved through the actions of local conservation groups raising awareness in communities near the site and helping to protect and monitor KBAs.

BirdLife Australia’s community-driven approachBirdLife Australia is building on the success of the KBA/IBA Program in Australia and around the world to expand the KBA Program. This means expanding our network of volunteer KBA Guardians—people who coordinate monitoring and report annually on the health of individual KBAs—so we can assess pressures and respond accordingly. In 2016, nearly 50 Guardians participated in our first annual Easter Health-check, providing a snapshot of the conservation status of Australia’s nature hotspots. We have over 200 KBAs that are still in need of a Guardian to do the same in 2017 and beyond.

But you don’t have to be a Guardian to make a difference. Everyone has a skill that can make KBA conservation stronger and more successful. Just visiting KBAs and talking to locals about what makes them important can increase community awareness and start to build a constituency that values their nearby sites of global significance. In addition, BirdLife Australia relies on the support of our members, donors and volunteers to advocate for better management from government, which is nowhere more visible than in the achievement of the 2014 campaign outcomes.

Our work relies heavily on our supporters donating to the KBA Program so that we can continue to coordinate the collection of data and implement priority conservation actions. It is through the work of thousands of volunteer citizen scientists and bird experts that BirdLife Australia has been able to pinpoint the most critical sites for bird conservation around the nation.

All of this support will become increasingly important as we expand the KBA Program over the next few years to incorporate more threatened animals and plants so that we can identify and protect all of Australia’s KBAs.

Key Biodiversity Areas are our chance to build a natural legacy for future generations. Everyone can play a role in safeguarding the future of Australia’s nature hotspots—go to www.birdlife.org.au to become part of the solution.


For the first time, we have a common language to talk about the most important places left for life on Earth: Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs).

In 2016, at the World Conservation Congress in Honolulu, Hawaii, a partnership of 11 of the world’s leading nature conservation organisations launched the new Global Standard for the Identification of KBAs. The Standard employs agreed scientific criteria to identify sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity.

The conservation of many bird species, and indeed the diversity of life, depends on protecting these areas. However, what we have discovered is that despite their international significance, many KBAs do not receive the protection they deserve and globally important habitat is being lost.

BirdLife Australia has identified 315 KBAs across the country. Of these, 19 are experiencing Very High levels of threat and are at risk of losing the values they were nominated for. Five of these KBAs have been designated as ‘In Danger’ as part of BirdLife International’s global campaign. Australia’s KBAs in Danger include sites threatened by mining, water management, forestry and infrastructure development. Each of the KBAs in Danger provides habitat for species at risk of extinction. Fortunately, it is not too late to protect the values of these KBAs. Some solutions are easier to implement than others, but we know enough about the species at risk to know what actions are required to protect them. We simply need the political will and resources to do what needs to be done.

This report outlines what we can do to save the KBAs in Danger. It also details where conservation actions have successfully addressed threats to our Key Biodiversity Areas, in some cases preventing the extinction of species that rely on them.

Cover from top: North Bruny Island, Tasmania. Photo by Chris Tzaros Queensland mangrove forest. Photo courtesy Shutterstock Swan Coastal Plain, Western Australia. Photo courtesy Shutterstock Macquarie Marshes, NSW. Photo by Bruce Elder Christmas Island. Photo by Gary Bell/OceanwideImages

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KBAS IN DANGERKBA? IBA? What’s in a name? 4 IBA-KBA transition 5 What does the KBA standard mean...

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Transcript of KBAS IN DANGERKBA? IBA? What’s in a name? 4 IBA-KBA transition 5 What does the KBA standard mean...