(Posted on behalf of Geoff Welch)
Kazakhstan does 'big' really, really well! In the UK we are not used to the vastness of space that is Kazakhstan. The world's largest landlocked country has almost 15 million hectares of Important Bird Areas (IBAs). If you tried to fit the RSPB's nature reserves, covering 130,000 hectares, into this area you could do this 115 times!
Kazakhstan's IBAs support important populations of 25 threatened species. The country's wetlands provide vital staging grounds of millions (yes, another really big figure) of migrating waterbirds each spring and autumn. The steppes of northern Kazakhstan, one of the least protected habitats in the world, are home to the majority of the world's sociable lapwings (Swarovski Optik are the Species Champion for sociable lapwing, providing vital support for work in Kazakhstan and beyond).
These steppes are also home to a small, but increasing population of Saiga antelope.
Both these species and many more will benefit from improved protection and management that has very recently been afforded to them. Realising the scale and vitalness of this land for wildlife it is therefore surprising that they are and have been in need of better protection. The RSPB was the lead partner in the Central Asian IBA Programme which prepared national inventories in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and was funded by the UK's Darwin initiative.
Following the publication of the first national inventory of IBAs in Kakakhstan in 2008 the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK, BirdLife Affiliate) has been working with the Committee of Forestry and Hunting of the Ministry of Agriculture to gain official recognition and protection of the globally important sites.
Last month, this hard work yielded results. For the first time, following the publication of revised legislation the term 'Important Bird Area' was included in the Law 'On Specially Protected Nature Areas'. IBAs are now considered as 'objects of nature-reserved fund'. Although such 'objects' are not a direct component of the national Specially Protected Areas (SPA) network, the Government now has an obligation for their protection and control. This official recognition provides a firm foundation to build from in the future - the 'upgrading' of IBAs to SPA status. The next stage is to get all confirmed IBAs (121 at present) included in the list of 'objects' approved by the Government. New lists should be prepared in the near future to take into account the new legislation.
All this should be great news for species such at the Steppe Eagle (see photo below), which should benefit from this improved protected and managment.
Land of the free spirits. 'Kazakh' is derived from the ancient Turkic word meaning 'free spirit'. 'Stan' is a Persian word for land or place. Within the country's huge area, two major migration flyways come into close contact: the West Asian-East African and Central Asian-South Asian flyways. Millions of migrating birds stop at sites in Kazakhstan, either to moult or to rest between stages on their seasonal journey and it is fitting that the country should bear its share of responsibility, for the safety of their populations.