Conservation Science

M K Poulsen/BirdLife Field surveys of key habitats for birds and biodiversity are a major foundation of BirdLife's work. Zoom In

BirdLife International has earned the reputation of being a world leader in identifying global conservation priorities. This activity is essential to ensure that scarce resources are targeted effectively, and has been achieved through BirdLife's unswerving commitment to painstaking data-gathering and rigorous analysis, benefiting from the practical feedback of field projects in many different countries, and consultation with a worldwide network of experts.

BirdLife identifies priorities not only for avian conservation. Because birds occur in most habitats throughout the world, are sensitive to environmental change and have distributional patterns that match many other species, they are also good indicators of priorities for other animals and plants. This is important in a world where so little is known about the great majority of biodiversity.

For more information on BirdLife's conservation science programme, please contact: science@birdlife.org

Species

BirdLife aims to improve the conservation status of the world's birds, and hence species are often the starting point for research and action.

• Global Species Programme
  • Birds on the IUCN Red List
  • Recently recategorised species
  • Globally Threatened Bird Forums
• Global Seabird Programme
• Work on Avian Influenza

• Birds in Europe
• European Species Action Plans (SAPs)

• Saving Asia's threatened birds
• Asian vulture crisis

• African Globally Threatened Birds Action Plans

Sites – Important Bird Areas

It is impossible, both practically and financially, to develop separate projects to conserve all species at risk in the world, one by one. Thus the identification of particular sites, which are important for many species together, is a key component of BirdLife's priority setting.

• African Important Bird Areas
• Americas Important Bird Areas
  • Tropical Andes Important Bird Areas
  • Neotropical migrants in the Tropical Andes
• Asian Important Bird Areas
• European Important Bird Areas
• Middle Eastern Important Bird Areas
• Pacific Important Bird Areas
  • Fiji Important Bird Areas
• Antarctic Important Bird Areas
• Marine Important Bird Areas

Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE)

The Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) is a joint initiative of 52 biodiversity conservation organisations, including BirdLife International and a number of national BirdLife Partners.

State of the world's birds

State of the World's Birds examines what birds can tell us about the state of biodiversity, the pressures upon it and the solutions that are being, or should be, put in place.

Endemic Bird Areas

Worldwide, the most important places for habitat-based conservation of birds are the Endemic Bird Areas – critical regions for the conservation of the world's birds and other biodiversity, that are often also particularly rich in human cultures and languages.

Monitoring and Indicators

BirdLife data on species, sites and habitats are being used to set benchmarks and base-lines, so as to monitor the state of the world's birds and other biodiversity, and to indicate our progress towards a more sustainable world.

Convention Support

To move from science to conservation action, BirdLife data are turned into information and targets, and are used to influence the policies and decisions of governments, the corporate sector, other NGOs and society itself. Inter-governmental conventions on the environment are one important area where BirdLife can make a real difference.

Knowledge Management

Enormous quantities of high quality, up-to-date, synthesised data are needed to prioritise species, sites and habitats correctly. Managing data, information and knowledge within BirdLife is a task in itself.