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History of the Important Bird Area Program

© Jeff Larsen

BirdLife International is a global coalition of more than 100 country partner organizations. The IBA Program was initiated by BirdLife International in Europe in the 1980's. Since then, over 8,000 sites in 178 countries have been identified as Important Bird Areas, with several national and regional IBA inventories published in 19 languages. Hundreds of these sites and millions of acres have received better protection as a result of the IBA Program.

As the United States Partner of BirdLife International, the National Audubon Society administers the IBA Program in the U.S. Audubon launched its IBA initiative in 1995, establishing programs state by state. State-based IBA programs provide conservation leaders with the flexibility to tailor the program to their individual state needs, and they also give Audubon members and local volunteers the greatest opportunities to protect sites in their communities. Approximately 48 states have initiated IBA programs and more than 2,100 state-level IBAs, encompassing over 220 million acres, have been identified. Conservation activities are being conducted at many of these IBAs. A committee of expert ornithologists and bird conservation scientists are in the process of reviewing the US’ IBAs and has to date identified 151 Global IBAs and 9 Continental IBAs.