Birds, as a well known, globally distributed, conspicuous group of animals are the indicators of specific areas - Important Bird Areas (IBAs) - of global conservation significance. The internationally agreed criteria used to select the IBAs were applied on a global scale. The selection criteria used, depended on selecting areas of habitats and ecosystems containing viable bird populations of globally threatened species, restricted-range species, biome-specific assemblages and congregations of significant numbers of especially water birds. In this manner, the IBA’s selected for South Africa are areas of global importance to avian conservation and, areas of national or sub-regional importance to conservation are not included. Due therefore to the differences in the scale at which such an exercise can be undertaken, areas that are not on the IBA list may still be of national or sub-regional conservation importance and are therefore still important to conservation.

The existing national protected areas network has been, where feasible, included in the IBA selection process. Of the 116 IBAs selected for South Africa 32 are unprotected, 39 are partially protected and 44 are protected (Provincial Nature Reserve or National Park). The unprotected and partially protected IBAs indicate were the gaps in the current protected areas network are in terms of avian biodiversity conservation. Partially protected applies to an IBA when its surface area has completely or only partially been declared a Natural Heritage Site, Private Nature Reserves, or both. Partially protected further applies to large IBAs that have a portion of their surface area declared a Nature Reserve or National Park.

Due to the global conservation significance of the IBAs and the gaps that they indicate in the current conservation of South Africa’s birds, the unprotected and partially protected IBAs are very important areas in which to initiate conservation action, advocacy and monitoring. The selection phase of the IBA Conservation Programme culminates with the publication of the IBA Directory for Southern Africa. The IBA Directory includes the IBAs selected for South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. The Avian Demography Unit undertook this phase of the IBA Conservation Programme with funding from BirdLife International.

The implementation phase of the IBA Conservation Programme involves taking the information supplied by the selection phase and implementing conservation action, advocacy and monitoring within each, but especially for the unprotected and partially protected IBAs. This will be an ongoing long-term process. BirdLife South Africa with funding from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is embarking on the second phase or implementation phase of the IBA Conservation Programme. This is the financial mechanism for giving effect to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention for Climatic Change. This money is usually made available to governments and government agencies. BirdLife South Africa is, however, part of a unique consortium of non-government organisations (NGOs) within the BirdLife African partnership. There is great interest within the international community about this project, which represents a new way of doing business with aid money. Apart from South Africa the GEF funded IBA Conservation Programme implementation is taking place in 9 other African countries, they are Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda.

• Nylsvley as an Important Bird Area
• BirdLife South Africa Website
• FULL CHECKLIST for NYLSVLEY
• Nylsvley Birding Events
• ZABIRDSTUFF Birders Website
• Friends of Nylsvley and Nyl Floodplain HOME PAGE