Monitoring  Important Bird Areas in Africa: The use of GIS and Remote

Sensing to complement ground-based methods

Eshiamwata, G.W, Buchanan, G., Mulaku, G.C., Kiema, J.B.K

SCGIS Scholar, 2007

An Overview

• Africa: Facts, figures & avifauna• Important Bird Areas (IBAs) • Land cover/use changes at IBAs in Africa• Monitoring• GIS, Remote sensing and IBA monitoring• Land cover/use change analysis at Kakamega, South

Nandi and North Nandi forest IBAs

Africa

Area: 30.3m. sq km, Africa is the world's second largest continent after Asia

Population: c. 888 million people (13% of world’s population)(2005 UN)

Poverty levels: over 45% living in extreme poverty

High species diversity and endemism

Africa & Bird diversityAfrica consists of:2,313 (23%) of the world’s 9,917 bird species1,400 endemic species234 Globally threatened species

Avian diversity

Avian diversity

Congregations of waterbirds

Bird diversity in Africa

Setting conservation priorities

• Biodiversity – not uniformly spread across the globe– resources for biodiversity conservation are limited &

unevenly distributed too.

•The need to prioritize where conservation action should start

What are Important Bird Areas (IBAs)?

– Places of international significance for birds and other biodiversity

– Network of sites critical for bird conservation

– Practical tools for conservation – discrete manageable sites

IBAs of global significance have been identified based on criteria: – Species of global conservation concern– Assemblage of restricted-range species– Assemblage of biome-restricted species– Congregations

BirdLife International focuses its conservation efforts at IBAs

The global network of IBAs identified to date

Areas of the world where the process of IBA identification is still in progress

Identifying & Protecting IBA Sites in Africa

•1, 230 IBA sites in 54 countries within Africa and its associated island have been identified

• Deforestation for timber, forest clearance for fuel wood (& charcoal) extraction & for commercial plantations (e.g. Oil palm) affect IBAs

Biodiversity: land use/cover changes at IBAs

Deforestation & habitat fragmentation

5.8+/- 1.4 million ha. of humid tropical forest lost each year between 1990 & 1997 with a further 2.3+/-0.7 million ha of forest degraded

Expansion and intensification of agricultureExpanding agriculture destroys more habitat than any other factor

Agricultural land has expanded six-fold since 1700 (FAO, 2001)

Biodiversity: land use/cover changes at IBAs

Biodiversity: land use/cover changes

Fires

Alien invasive species (water hyacinth, Prosopis sp

Desertification

Biodiversity: land use/cover changes at IBAs

There is an emerging urgent need to MONITOR change and keep track of trends in biodiversity

IBA monitoring• Tell how we are doing at local, national

& regional levels (Performance or audit function) :

– species of interest, key sites, national IBA network

• Determine where action is neededThreats increasing, threats addressed, which actor to target

• Contribute towards global targets (CBD 2010 targets, MDGs,

• Assessing effectiveness of policy /legislation

• Detecting incipient change

State Pressure Response.

•Status of biodiversity,•Conditions that maintain it.

•Identify need for intervention•overview of threats across habitats, countries & regions

•Magnitude of investment•Gaps for interventions

IBA Monitoring Framework

A typical IBA monitoring process involves

•Research•Data Management •Information &

Analysis•Action

IBA caretakers and Site Support Groups

– 140 Site Support Groups have been established to contribute to the management and monitoring of at least 150 IBAs

Ground-based IBA Monitoring

GIS & Remote sensing in IBA monitoring?

Image processing & change detection analyses

•Can use time-series satellite data to detect & assess Can use time-series satellite data to detect & assess spatio-temporal changesspatio-temporal changes•Very useful approach in land use/cover change analysis Very useful approach in land use/cover change analysis such as monitoring deforestation/regeneration at IBAssuch as monitoring deforestation/regeneration at IBAs• Species can be mapped and changes at IBAs Species can be mapped and changes at IBAs correlated with species abundance, distributioncorrelated with species abundance, distribution

To focus on 60 IBAs in Africa to demonstrate the potential of these techniques in IBA monitoring

Kakamega, North and South Nandi IBAs

Location

Changes at Kakamega forest, North Nandi & South Nandi IBAs, Kenya

1973 1986

Changes at Kakamega forest, North & South Nandi IBAs, Kenya

1986 2001

Changes at Kakamega forest, North Nandi & South Nandi IBAs, Kenya

Causes of land use land cover changes

Agricultural encroachment/intensification/expansion

Deforestation

Charcoal burning

Grazing

Illegal logging

Impact on bird species•The 3 IBAs have a total of over 28 Globally & Regionally threatened species

•Sites have over 400 bird species

including a number of rare species

•254 bird species are forest dependent

• the occurrence & distribution of certain ‘trigger’ bird species is likely to be affected by land use/cover changes especially forest dependent species

Impact on bird species

VU

Impact on bird species

Monitoring IBAs using GIS & remote sensing

Subsequent work to investigate whether• Land use/cover change is significantly higher at IBAs

sites surrounded by densely populated areas• Protected Areas are more intact than unprotected areas • Sites where past conservation efforts been invested

better of • The severity of fire damage at IBAs • if agricultural conversion & human encroachment at

IBAs is preceded by fires• Correlate land cover changes and bird distribution

Way forward

Reflections

…those of us who understand the complex concept of the environment have the burden to act. We must not tire, we must not give up, we must persist…

Acknowledgements

george.eshiamwata@birdlife.or.ke, visit: www.birdlife.org/Africa

Africa Partnership Secretariat, Nairobi

University of Nairobi, Kenya

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, UK

Global Vegetation Monitoring Unit, Ispira, Italy