Assessment and Planning

What We Do & Why We Do It

Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) are sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity, including critical habitats for threatened plant and animal species in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.

BirdLife South Africa has formed a strategic partnership with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) to initiate the KBA Programme in South Africa. Together, we co-chair the KBA National Coordination Group and oversee the technical review of South Africa’s network of KBAs.

How we do it

In partnership with SANBI, BirdLife South Africa supports partners in Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia to conduct IUCN Red List assessments of endemic and near-endemic species and map KBAs using the global KBA Standard. Building on the tried and tested approach for identifying Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs), the global KBA Standard provides a standardised approach to identifying sites that contribute to the global persistence of biodiversity in various ways – for example, sites that hold globally significant populations of threatened species, geographically restricted species, or key biological processes (such as demographic aggregations).

Project Downloads

Further Project Information

Mapping Terrestrial and Freshwater KBAs in Southern Africa

The Spatial Biodiversity Assessment, Prioritisation and Planning (SBAPP) Regional Project aims to share capacity and support southern African countries – Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa – to apply a practical approach to spatial biodiversity assessment and prioritisation to inform national policy, planning, decisions and action. All four countries have a substantial number of shared species and ecosystem types across their borders, making regional cooperation essential for effective biodiversity assessment and planning.

This approach mobilises several foundational biodiversity datasets (e.g., maps of ecosystem types and ecological condition, species distribution maps and population-level information) and applies international assessment standards (i.e. the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the Red List of Ecosystems, and the global KBA Standard) to produce headline indicators on the state of biodiversity in each country. These assessments are then used to identify and map priority areas for biodiversity conservation and inform land use planning processes and decisions about conservation actions. This information also enables countries to complete their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and report against the international goals and targets in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The SBAPP Regional Project is funded jointly by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM). The project is led by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), working closely with the National Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE). BirdLife South Africa is a key partner for the regional aspects of this project, supporting work on species Red Listing, Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) and spatial planning.

Please see SANBI’s webpage on the SBAPP Regional Project for additional information.
Mapping Marine KBAs in the Benguela Current

South Africa boasts exceptional marine biodiversity, hosting 59 seabird species, including 12 that are globally threatened and four endemic to the Benguela Current upwelling system. To strengthen marine biodiversity planning and management, BirdLife South Africa and its partners are spearheading a project to identify and map marine KBAs for coastal seabirds using the c. This initiative addresses a critical data gap identified in South Africa’s National Biodiversity Assessment and will support the expansion of protected areas and recognition of other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs), making a significant contribution to South Africa’s global commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

We are currently seeking funding to expand this work to identify and map important sites for all taxonomic groups with adequate data (including marine mammals, sharks and rays, and other fishes) as well as coastal and marine ecosystem types in South African waters and to support similar efforts by our partners in Namibia.