Important Plant Areas in international conservation

The Important Plant Area(IPA) programme is intended to inform and underpin existing international, regional and national conservation programmes and legislation. Ultimately we hope that IPAs will act as a benchmark for determining whether the strongest protection, under any existing legislation, is being afforded to the most important sites for plants.

IPAs contribute to the following Global and European agreements and initiatives:

•   The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
•   The CBD Global Strategy for Plant Conservation
•   The IUCN World Conservation Union programmes
•   The Ramsar Convention
•   The European Plant Conservation Strategy
•   EU Habitats Directive and Natura 2000 network
•   The Emerald Network of the Bern Convention

IPAs, CBD and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation

IPAs form an essential part of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation which was endorsed by Governments all over the world at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP 6 in the Hague in April 2002.

Target 5 of the Global Plant Conservation Strategy calls for 50% of the most important areas for plant diversity in the world to be protected by 2010. The IPA criteria and methodology provide a framework for identifying these most important areas for plants.

The Global Plant Conservation Strategy is the first part of the CBD to have 'teeth'; clear measurable targets that Governments have committed themselves to achieving, and is a great success for the botanical and conservation community working in unison to protect the world's plants.

IPA identification and protection also helps implement the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) articles 6, 7 and 8 on biodiversity strategies and in-situ conservation. The IPA national networks of local experts, field workers and volunteers will also help to implement articles 12 and 13 on national and international co-operation.

Plantlife International and IUCN are lead partners for the implementation of target 5 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. Currently we are carrying out a stakeholder consultation process in order to inform governments and plant conservation stakeholders of the aims and timetable of implementing target 5 in their country, and to assess the level of existing work and interest in different countries and regions of the world.

If you would like to find out more about this consultation process please contact Elizabeth Radford (liz.radford@plantlife.org.uk). A summary of the consultation can be found here.
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IPAs and IUCN programmes

IPA identification and protection is a global priority of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Global Plant Conservation Programme, and objective 5.2 in the IUCN European Programme 2005 - 2008. It is also an objective of IUCN Parks for Life; the European programme of IUCN World Commission of Protected Areas - Priority Project 6 (specifically article 4.3.5 on the identification and conservation of higher plant sites and article 4.3.6 on the identification of important sites for lower plants).

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IPAs and Ramsar

IPA identification will also help to inform the process of identifying and protecting international wetland sites of importance through the Ramsar Convention. See also the Ramsar sites database. 

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IPAs and other conservation initiatives

The IPA Programme is also closely linked in aims and methodology to the highly successful Important Bird Areas Programme led by BirdLife International and Key Biodiversity Areas which combine approaches from across taxa. In Europe, Prime Butterfly Areas, Important Dragonfly Areas and Important Herpetological Areas are also being identified.

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IPAs and European nature conservation

IPA identification is one of the major targets (1.4) of the European Plant Conservation Strategy, which is to produce the first European IPA inventory by 2007.

Other targets in the Strategy aim to assess the effectiveness of IPAs in protecting Europe's wealth of wild plants and habitats that the IPA programme contributes fully to the other major conservation programmes currently running in Europe. The European Plant Conservation Strategy outlines European activities.

EU Habitats Directive and Natura 2000

IPAs inform the process of selecting Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) for the Natura 2000 network required by the EU Habitats and Species Directive, as well as the process of selecting Areas of Special Conservation Interest (ASCI) for the Emerald Network proposed by the Bern Convention. IPA selection criteria include all of the species and habitats of the Bern Convention and Anne I, IIb and IVb of the Eu Habitats Directive.

PEBLDS and PEEN

IPAs also contribute to the implementation of the Pan-European Biological and Landscapes Diversity Strategy (PEBLDS) specifically through contributing to the development of the Pan-European Ecological Network (PEEN). IPAs contribute to the Kiev Declaration on High Nature Value Farmland by identifying priority farmland sites important for plant conservation.

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