There are 276 IPAs in Romania, covering 426,500 hectares.

Biogeographic zones

Romania covers almost 238,000 km2 in southeastern Europe. Romanian IPAs are distributed as follows in the different biogeographic zones: Continental (128), Alpine (98), Steppic (40), Black Sea (9), Pannonic (1). The diversity of biogeographic zones matches the diversity of plant species and habitats from the Carpathian Mountains in the north, to the steppic grasslands and wetland areas of the Danube Delta in the south. Romania has two Centres of Plant Diversity, the Carpathians and the Danube Delta.

Habitat

In terms of habitat, Romanian Forest has the most IPAs, but many have also been identified in grasslands, wetlands and coastal habitats.

Land Use

More than 50% of IPAs have three or more land uses. Apart from nature conservation activities on existing protected areas, grazing and livestock practises are the most widespread land use. Forestry activities, tourism and recreation, wild plant gathering, and hunting are also major uses of these habitats.

Threats

Significant globally and European-level threatened habitats, such as coastal dune grasslands, broadleaved deciduous and coniferous woodland, and alluvial forest, are still well represented in Romania.However, they are increasingly affected by tourism, agriculture and deforestation. Urban development, construction of dams, dykes and barriers, and inappropriate water management systems also threaten several IPAs.

Armenia is a small mountainous country in the Caucaus Ecoregion – one of the planet’s biodiversity hotspots. 77% of the country’s territory lies between 1000 and 2500 m a.s.l. Armenia’s highest point is at the top of Mountain Aragats (4090m).

Habitats

The habitat diversity of the country is  remarkable – with its semideserts, steppes, arid open forests, meadows, forests, various wetland habitats etc.

Plant diversity

Within its area of only 30,000 km2 the country has a very rich and diverse flora including 3800 vascular plant species, 144 of which are Armenian endemics: Ornithogalum gabrielianae, Pyrus gergerana, Tragopogon armeniacus, Sonchus araraticus, Scrophularia takhtajanii, Thlaspi zangezuricum and others

IPAs

32 Important Plant Areas have been identified in Armenia. 22 of them contain or overlap the state protected areas and a community managed protected landscape. About 60% of Armenia’s protected areas are covered by the IPA network. The IPAs of Armenia include all the diversity of main habitat types, characteristic to the country and contain populations of about 80% of threatened plant species of Armenian flora. According to preliminary data 26 of the total 32 IPAs overlap with Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs).

Rich flora

The territory of Armenia belongs to one of the world’s centres of origin of cultivated plants and it forms part of one of the most ancient areas of origin and development of agriculture, where donors and progenitors of many cultivated plants have survived in a great number of forms. So, the genetic diversity of crop wild relatives is one of the important characteristics of local flora. 452 species (almost 12% of the flora) are in the red data book of Armenia.

Complex relief, diversity of soils and climate conditions, geological history and other factors have conditioned such a floristic richness. Armenia’s territory is located on the junction of two sharply different floristic provinces: dry Armeno-Iranian, which belongs to the Ancient Mediterranean floristic subkingdom and temperate-humid Caucasian province of Boreal subkingdom of Holarctis.

Türkiye was the first country in the world to identify its IPAs and 144 IPAs have been identified, covering 11,301,000 hectares – 13% of Türkiye’s total area. The sites range from 154 to 1,545,632 hectares. Over 50% of the sites qualify as IPAs by meeting more than one criterion. 3,442 rare taxa occur within the 144 IPAs.

Plant diversity

Türkiye has one of the richest floras in the temperate world with at least 8,897 native vascular plant species, including 3,022 endemics. These globally important species and habitats continue to face the familiar threats of habitat fragmentation, landscape change and lack of awareness of their importance. With about 11,000 native vascular plant taxa – and one in every three endemic – the flora of Türkiye is richer than that in any other mainland country in the Western Palaearctic, both in terms of overall plant diversity and endemism. Türkiye has three floristic regions (Euro Siberian, Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian), and is the meeting place of the floras of Europe and Asia. The flora is also of exceptional importance from an economic point of view: major parts of two of the eight centres of crop plant diversity lie within Türkiye; over 350 medicinal plants are collected for trading purposes; and garden plants have been derived from over 200 genera.

Habitats

The habitats mimic this diversity, and range from semi-desert and salt steppe, through Mediterranean cedar/fir forests and temperate rainforest, to a wide range of grassland, wetland, peatland and heathland habitats.

Threats

94% of the IPAs are thought to be threatened to some extent by at least one potentially damaging activity. Threats range from agricultural reclamation, intensive forestry and industrial/urban development to less obvious threats such as the collection of species for trade and the spread of aggressive alien plant species into the environment.

Rapid growth in the agricultural and industrial sectors, combined with a fast-increasing population is placing immense pressures on many of the most threatened species, and the often-unique habitats in which they grow in Türkiye. Few if any of the IPAs identified in the Turkish IPA inventory remain altogether unscathed by the negative impacts of man’s activities.

There is a total of 109 IPAs in Estonia, covering over 280,000 hectares, which are all located in the Boreal biogeographical zones.

Estonia covers just over 45,000 km2 in north-east Europe, on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The country borders Russia and Latvia and has one biogeographical zone, the Boreal. Estonia’s natural and semi-natural vegetation consists mainly of forest, mires, grasslands and coastal habitats. The Alvar forests and Alvar meadows are characteristic habitat types of the north-western and western part of Estonia and the Baltic Islands.

Habitats

Forests are the most frequent IPA habitat, followed by grassland, then mire, bog and fen habitats. Inland water habitats and many coastal habitats are well represented and there are four IPAs with marine habitats, including two IPAs which are 100% marine.

Land Use

Apart from nature conservation activities within protected areas, the most frequent land uses in IPAs are tourism and recreation, forestry, haymaking or mowing, grazing animals, and to a lesser extent hunting.

Threats

Forestry practices threaten almost half of IPAs. Recreation and tourist development is also a major threat. Abandonment and reduction of land management is a high or significant threat, followed by development (transport/infrastructure and urban), burning of vegetation and water management practices.

The Republic of North Macedonia has 42 Important Plant Areas, covering almost 18% of the country’s territory. It covers an area of almost 26,000 km² with mountain terrain in the west and east, and lowland habitats in the centre. It borders Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Kosovo and Serbia.

Biogeographic zones

It contains two biogeographic zones, the Alpine and the Continental. The biogeographic division used within the country is of a finer scale and includes sub-mediterranean and pontic steppes. The valleys located deep in the continental part have a strong Mediterranean influence.

Habitats

Forest (woodland) and grassland are the most frequent habitats, occurring on 85% and 67% of IPAs respectively. Where these habitats occur they are often the dominant vegetation types, especially on the 18 mountainous IPAs.

Range of Species

The country has comparatively a very high level of local and Balkan endemic species, and relict species in the mountains, forests and “steppes” of the lowlands. 3.6% of the vascular flora is endemic including two endemic bryophyte species and 114 endemic vascular plant species. The percentage of near endemic (Balkan endemic) species is considerably greater. Many species reach the borders of their range in the country and the diversity of plant communities is also high.

Conservation measures

Twelve IPAs are cross border IPAs with neighbouring countries and only 14 of these are protected at national level. Conservation measures within those IPAs in national parks include measures for forests, but rarely for plant species. Although the Republic of North Macedonia has ratified almost all conventions for biodiversity protection, the conservation status of plants and habitats is not favourable.

Land Use

Forestry and stock based agriculture is the predominant land use within Macedonian IPAs.

Threats

Poor forestry practices threaten 69% of sites, mostly at high threat intensity. Wetlands are also particularly threatened and a third of IPAs suffer from water mismanagement, notably from dams and hydropower units. Development is a concern at over 50% of sites – predominantly tourist development.

IPAs

In total, 57 Important Plant Areas (IPAs) have been identified covering just 3% of Mozambique’s terrestrial land area. The  IPAs of Mozambique were identified as part of the Tropical Important Plant Areas programme by partners from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique, Eduardo Mondlane University and the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology.

These sites encompass important populations of over 80% of Mozambique’s threatened plant taxa (over 270 threatened taxa) and around two thirds of the country’s endemic and range-restricted species (over 370 taxa). Sites range in landscape scale, the largest being Panda-Manjacaze IPA covering 2,599 km2 of wetland, miombo and dry forest mosaic, to Bobole IPA with an area of just 0.23 m2 focussed largely on the Raphia australis population within Bobole Botanical Reserve.

Habitats and biodiversity

A range of threatened and restricted habitat types are encompassed within the IPA network such as: montane forests rich in endemic species, Icuria Coastal Dry Forest with stands dominated by the endemic and Endangered species Icuria dunensis, and Cheringoma Limestone Forest, Mozambique’s only forest occurring on limestone substrate.

Mozambique’s rich and varied flora consists of over 6,000 native and naturalised plant taxa, 270 of which are strict-endemic and 400 near-endemic taxa. Mozambique also encompasses parts of three biodiversity hotspots (Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa, Maputaland–Pondoland-Albany and Eastern Afromontane) and has six proposed Centres of Plant Endemism. 

Threats

Endemic and near-endemic plants are particularly at risk, with many being threatened by habitat loss, particularly due to agricultural expansion. Around 60% of Mozambique’s endemic and near-endemic plant taxa are threatened with extinction as a result. The dependence of much of Mozambique’s population on subsistence agriculture and a growing human population puts huge pressure on Mozambique’s habitats and unique flora. Most of the IPAs themselves are impacted by these threats and no single IPA is threat-free; however, conservation of these priority areas for Mozambique’s flora would make a significant contribution towards protecting these species for future generations.

Tropical Important Plant Areas project

To this end, the Mozambique Tropical Important Plant Areas (TIPAs) team are using the IPA network as the focus for both in situ and ex situ conservation projects. Seed banking of Mozambique’s threatened, endemic and socio-economically important plant taxa will use the IPAs identified as target sites for collection, while conservation initiatives are underway to protect areas of the threatened Icuria Coastal Dry Forest habitat within IPAs in Nampula and Zambézia provinces of Mozambique, and to restore the Raphia australis population within Bobole IPA.

New Guinea is the largest tropical island in the world. Lying just below the equator, it spans about 2,500 km from west to east. There is no full Flora of the New Guinea ecoregion, however there is a recent checklist of the vascular plant species (Cámara-Leret et al. 2020). New Guinea is also relatively under-collected, with fewer than 25 collections per 100 km2 throughout the mainland, with fewer records in Indonesian New Guinea compared to Papua New Guinea.

Habitats

Its complex topography, with mountains up to 4,884 m elevation, and diverse range of ecosystems, from mangroves to alpine vegetation, support a vast amount of plant diversity, with at least 9,300 species (68%) endemic to the island.

Threats

New Guinea is one of the last places in South-east Asia with large areas of continuous forest. However, this is under threat from mining, palm oil concessions, timber extraction and infrastructure development. There is an urgent need to understand how New Guinea’s plant diversity is distributed across the island, how it evolved, what threats there are, and how it will cope with land use change and predicted climate change to inform focused and coordinated conservation actions.

Tropical Important Plant Areas (TIPAs) Project

The present Tropical Important Plant Areas (TIPAs) project (2022 to 2024) is focussed on the Indonesian province of West Papua and is a partnership between Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Universitas Papua (UNIPA) and Dinas Kehutanan West Papua. The project partners are building a georeferenced specimen dataset of the endemic species of West Papua to help predict species occurrence in different habitat types. Future fieldwork will test how well the models predict species occurrences and richness.

A list of the threatened and range-restricted plant species is currently being refined by the project partners. Kew and collaborators have recently assessed and published 226 New Guinea orchid and tree fern species on the IUCN Red List: 27 species (11.5%) are threatened with extinction and 44 species (18%) were listed as Data Deficient. Future assessments are focused on the endemic woody plants of West Papua.