Key Biodiversity Areas in the Indo-Burma Hotspot: Process, Progress and Future Directions

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A.W. Tordoff
M.C. Baltzer
J.R. Fellowes
J.D. Pilgrim
P.F. Langhammer

Abstract

Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) provide geographic targets for the expansion of protected area coverage, and identify sites for urgent conservation action. Identification of KBAs in the Indo-Burma Hotspot was undertaken during 2003, for a region of analysis comprising Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand and Vietnam, plus parts of southern China. The starting point was information on 282 Important Bird Areas identified by BirdLife International and collaborators. These data were then overlaid with point locality data on globally threatened mammals, reptiles, amphibians, freshwater fish and plants, with additional KBAs identified as required. Through this process, a total of 438 KBAs were identified, covering 258,085km2 or 11.5 percent of the region of analysis. Only 58 percent of the KBAs are wholly or partly included within protected areas, suggesting that there may be a need for further expansion of protected area networks, particularly in Myanmar and Vietnam. The criteria for KBA identification are triggered by 812 species, of which 23 are believed only to occur at a single KBA globally. The KBAs have proven to be a useful conservation priority setting tool in Indo-Burma, helping to guide investments by various donors and application of environmental safeguard policies by international financial institutions. There are fewer examples of KBAs being used to guide expansion of protected area systems in Indo-Burma. In large part, this is because the period of rapid expansion of protected areas in most hotspot countries predated the KBA identification process, and political support for further significant expansion is currently limited.

Article Details

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Communications
Author Biographies

A.W. Tordoff

Jack Tordoff is a grant director with the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund. Previously, Jack worked for BirdLife International, during which time he coordinated the Key Biodiversity Area identification process for the Indo-Burma Hotspot. He has two decades’ experience of biodiversity conservation, predominantly in Asia.

M.C. Baltzer

Michael Baltzer is presently the leader of WWF’s Tiger’s Alive Initiative. Previously, Michael worked as director of WWF’s Danube-Carpathian Programme. He also worked as conservation director for the WWF Mekong Programme (then known as WWF Indochina) and has many years’ experience in biodiversity conservation in other areas of South-East Asia and in Africa.

J.R. Fellowes

John Fellowes is a consultant to Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden, whose South China rapid biodiversity assessments he initiated in 1997, and to other organisations, including CEPF. He is based in London and has a range of environment-related roles in the UK and Asia.

J.D. Pilgrim

John Pilgrim was a grant director with the Global Conservation Fund at Conservation International before moving to BirdLife International in Indochina and managing the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund Regional Implementation Team for the Indo-Burma Hotspot. He now consults on issues related to Net Positive Impact, biodiversity offsetting, and conservation planning.

P.F. Langhammer

Penny Langhammer is a PhD candidate at Arizona State University, where she studies the impact of the fungal disease chytridiomycosis on Caribbean frogs. She previously worked at Conservation International for nearly a decade, supporting the identification and conservation of Key Biodiversity Areas in Latin America, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region.