All areas of importance

Listed by name

Biodiversity values

The biodiversity value of areas and their relevance for business as a result of such values can be assessed by looking at two factors. One is the particular biodiversity characteristics that lead to identification and the other is the geographical scale of identified areas. The latter is based on the premise that despite the biodiversity values present, the likelihood of encountering those values is much reduced with an increase in the extent of the area. These two factors are described in greater detail below.

• Geographical Scale
• Biodiversity characteristics
• Summary table of geographical scale and biodiversity characteristics

Geographical scale

Areas have been identified for biodiversity conservation in a variety of ways, including those that aim to identify broad regions of the globe that are of higher importance as a way to direct conservation effort and resources to the best places, and those where particular areas have been identified that are able to be managed with the aim of achieving protection at those sites. It therefore follows that for a business operating in or close to these areas their overall relevance for informing decision making on the ground varies considerably with this scale. Areas have, therefore, been categorized on this basis as:

• Site scale (within defined management units)
• Regional scale (areas based on large regions of the world)

Geographical scale of areas

Geographical scale	Name of area
Site-scale	All protected areas (IUCN protected area management categories, governance types-Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas, Trans Boundary Protected Areas, Private Protected Areas, Marine Protected Areas) International designations (Ramsar Sites, World Heritage Sites, Biosphere Reserves, ASEAN Heritage Parks, Natura 2000, Emerald Sites, Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance, Pan Parks) Key Biodiversity Areas Important Plant Areas Important Bird Areas Alliance for Zero Extinction Sites High Conservation Value Areas
Regional-scale	Biodiversity Hotspots Global 200 ecoregions Crisis Ecoregions High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas Megadiversity Countries Intact Forest Landscape Last of the Wild Endemic Bird Areas (variable) Centres of Plant Diversity (variable)

Those that are at the site-scale are of the highest relevance to business as:

1. Management is likely to be structured at that site for the conservation of biodiversity values identified;
2. Those features identified are more likely to be encountered within smaller sites, particularly in the case of threatened species and specific habitat types (this is less relevant for landscape features);
3. Avoiding biodiversity impact is possible through complete avoidance of such sites;
4. Achieving biodiversity benefits is more possible through supporting the management and restoration of sites.

Regional-scale areas of importance, while of less direct application in supporting business planning, are however still areas of higher value than those regions without such identification. Therefore, business practices should aim to increase their vigilance towards and support of biodiversity conservation when operating within these areas.

Biodiversity characteristics

Many companies may be concerned with particular biodiversity features, whether they are threatened species or unique habitat types and therefore a summary table is provided below based on inclusion of various biodiversity components in the criteria. The letters ‘D’ and ‘C’ indicate whether each criterion is fundamental, or one of a number of selection criteria. This analysis has been done only for the prioritisation approaches that have clear standardised criteria.

Summary table of biodiversity criteria

D = definitely present C = one of a number of criteria

All sites and designations listed in this guide are important for biodiversity and its conservation in a variety of ways. Some have been identified on the basis of how vulnerable or threatened the area and biodiversity present is, other based on how unique the habitat and species present are, and others purely on the number of different species or habitats present at a site. There are other biodiversity values, including importance in the landscape of an area and containing habitat that is representative of a particular region. For the purposes of this guide we have categorised sites on the basis of two aspects that are considered of high importance in conservation terms and of relevance to companies operating in or near such sites:

• Irreplaceability: sites having unique habitat type and/or endemic species
• Vulnerability: sites having threatened species and / or habitats

Different types of area demonstrate different likelihoods of being designated based on these values of vulnerability and irreplaceability. For some, identification is exclusively based on these criteria, for others they are among a number of criteria, and some make no explicit mention of these values. A lack of mention does not infer that these values are absent, but that individual sites may or may not contain them.

Summary table of geographical scale and biodiversity characteristics based on:

• High or low vulnerability and irreplaceability within areas
• The geographical extent of areas

Name of area/Biodiversity relevance	Site or regional scale	Vulnerable and/or irreplaceable
World Heritage Sites Criteria for listing is ‘Outstanding Universal Value’, following global comparative analysis implies high irreplaceability and generally high vulnerability.
Ramsar Sites Includes criteria on high vulnerability of species and high irreplaceability of habitats and species, although identification is not restricted to these criteria.
Biosphere Reserve No specific criteria on vulnerability or Irreplaceability, although both of these characteristics are possible at individual sites.
Natura 2000 Includes criteria on high vulnerability and high irreplaceability of species, although identification is not restricted to these criteria.
Emerald Network Sites Includes criteria on high vulnerability of habitats and species and high irreplaceability of species, although identification is not restricted to these criteria.
Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance Includes criteria on high vulnerability and high irreplaceability of habitats and species, although identification is not restricted to these criteria.
ASEAN Heritage Parks and Reserves No specific criteria on vulnerability or Irreplaceability, although both of these characteristics are possible at individual sites.
Pan Parks Includes criteria on high vulnerability and high irreplaceability of habitats and species, although identification is not restricted to these criteria.
Biodiversity Hotspots Criteria are exclusively based on high vulnerability of habitat and high irreplaceability of species within large geographic regions.
Global 200 Ecoregions Criteria include high irreplaceability of species and habitats within large geographic regions, although identification is not restricted to this criterion.
Crisis Ecoregions Criteria exclusively based on high vulnerability of habitat within large geographic regions.
High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas Criteria exclusively based on high irreplaceability of species within large intact wilderness areas of low vulnerability.
Megadiversity Countries Criteria based exclusively on high irreplaceability of species within countries.
Intact Forest Landscapes Criteria based exclusively on large and intact forest habitats with low vulnerability.
Last of the wild (LOTW) Criteria based exclusively on intact habitats with low vulnerability that are typically large geographic regions.
Endemic Bird Areas (EBA) Criteria based exclusively on high irreplaceability of species, typically within large areas based on species ranges.
Centres of Plant Diversity (CPD) Two principal criteria, of which one is high irreplaceability of species, but high vulnerability of sites is also included within the selection process. Mostly large regional areas, but also includes some site-scale areas.
Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) sites Criteria based exclusively on high vulnerability and high irreplaceability of species.
Important Plant Areas (IPA) Criteria include high vulnerability and high irreplaceability of species, although identification is not restricted to these criteria.
Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) Criteria are limited to high vulnerability and/or high irreplaceability of species.
Important Bird Areas (IBA) Criteria are limited to high vulnerability and/or high irreplaceability of species.
High Conservation Value Areas (HCVA) Criteria include high vulnerability and high irreplaceability of species and habitats, although identification is not restricted to these criteria.

N.B. The protected areas (IUCN management categories and governance types) are not included here as the actual criteria for designation are not known. The criteria given for protected areas are related to management objectives rather than the national level criteria and processes that lead to identification.