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“The site regularly holds significant numbers of a globally threatened species, or other species of global conservation concern.”

Under this criterion sites are identified for those species most threatened with extinction at the global level. This includes species classified as “Critical”, “Endangered”, “Vulnerable”, and more recently, “Critical – Probably Extinct”, and “Extinct in the Wild” according to universally recognized definitions of global threat status (IUCN/SSC 1994, BirdLife International 2000 & 2004). Although not strictly globally threatened, species classified as “Conservation Dependent”, “Data Deficient”, or “Near-Threatened”, are considered to be of sufficient global conservation concern to merit the identification of Important Bird Areas at the global level.

Applying A1 Criterion
The thresholds used for criterion A1 are determined by threat status, dispersion pattern, and population size.

• For species listed as ‘Critical’ or ‘Endangered’, their regular presence at a site should be sufficient to merit IBA status, irrespective of their abundance at the site.
• Species listed as ‘Vulnerable’ or ‘Near-Threatened’ must regularly be present in ‘significant numbers’ for a site to qualify as an IBA. In the U.S. we define ‘significant numbers’ based on the global threat category and dispersion pattern of each species. However, we further modify the thresholds based on consideration of the global population size of each species, based on Partners in Flight population scores.

Population thresholds that must be regularly met at a site for it to qualify as an IBA at the A1 level are as follows. It is expected that threshold numbers be supported simultaneously.

See A1 List (Species of Global Conservation Concern)

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