Threatened Marine Important Bird Areas in the Middle East
| Analytical Overview |
| Direct measures of state and change in biodiversity are currently lacking for most coastal ecosystems. Therefore, it is necessary to infer the condition of biodiversity, at habitat level, based on other measures such as level of pressure. Knowledge of the causal relationships driving change allows the development of proxy indicators where no direct measures exist. The proxy indicators might include level of pollution, human population density, urban growth parameters, or even terrestrial land-use patterns or fisheries information. The level of threats to these IBAs was assessed, based on such criteria as habitat degradation, bird population, and level of legal protection. |
Map Projection
Geographic
Map Description
This map shows the location of important littoral bird habitats in the Middle East, identified by BirdLife International as conservation priority areas, and the level of threats posed by human activities. Approximately 30 percent of the IBAs in this region include coastal wetland and marine habitat as the predominant habitat type. Over 20 percent of coastal or marine IBAs are categorized under high to moderate threats, mostly because of habitat destruction (Evans 1994:32 - 35).
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Citation:
World Resources Institute - PAGE, 2000
Sources:
- Evans, M.I.. 1994, Important Bird Areas of the Middle East.Cambridge, UK:Birdlife International.