Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) are indispensable for effective site-based conservation because they allow us to identify 'sites contributing significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity' and allocate protected areas and other conservation resources where most needed. Criterion E of the Global Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas is Irreplaceability through quantitative analysis. This criterion identifies sites required as part of a system to achieve a set of conservation targets, and it is a new metric in the important areas identification system. Irreplaceability is a metric that derives from Systematic Conservation Planning and seeks strategic management of the landscape. However, this criterion is underrepresentation in the KBA network because there are not clear Guidelines for application. The KBA Standards and Appeals Committee is developing the Guidelines for using A Global Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas. This document provides an overview of the steps for identifying and delineating KBAs and ensures that the process is consistent, scientifically rigorous, and practical. This project is designed to inform the KBA Standards and Appeals Committee and be a reference for the Guidelines. I will address two fundamental questions, the geographical scale in which irreplaceability is calculated and the effects of data quality on irreplaceability values and patterns. To answer these questions, I have available a novel, updated set of Area of Habitat (AOH) maps for all terrestrial birds and mammals at 100-m resolution. To quantify irreplaceability, I will use the Ferrier score included in the new software package prioritizr. This project represents a unique opportunity to advance the state of our understanding of this important conservation metric.
The development of strategies to address biodiversity loss requires standardised tools to identify areas significant for biodiversity. Key biodiversity Areas represent a global effort build upon over 30 years of experience in identifying areas of importance for the different taxonomic, ecological, and thematic subsets of biodiversity and aims to provide a methodology to consolidate and harmonise these existing approaches. This project aims to contribute to the development of the methodology to identify Key Biodiversity areas. Furthermore, this project is designed to inform the KBA Standards and Appeals Committee and reference the Guidelines for using A Global Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas. With that, I hope to improve and expand the identification of KBA and have a direct impact on a vital conservation tool such as the KBAs.