Important Bird & Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) of Nepal: 27 to 42 Sites

An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is a site of international significance for the conservation of birds and other wildlife, identified using standardised, science-based criteria set by BirdLife International, a global partnership of conservation organisations. Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN), the BirdLife partner in Nepal, leads the programme in the country, supported by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in the United Kingdom. IBAs form the largest bird-based subset of the wider Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) network adopted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2016.

Nepal's first IBA inventory, 'Important Bird Areas in Nepal: Key Sites for Conservation' by Hem Sagar Baral and Carol Inskipp, was published in 2005 (2061-62 BS) and identified 27 IBAs. This became the widely cited '27-site' directory. The inventory was comprehensively reassessed and republished in 2024 (2080-81 BS) by BCN together with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) and the Department of Forests and Soil Conservation (DOFSC).

The 2024 update recognises 42 IBAs, plus five Potential IBAs (PIBAs) that need further survey work before they can qualify. Together the 42 IBAs cover nearly 28 per cent of Nepal's land area. The renaming from 'Important Bird Areas' to 'Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas' reflects a broader focus on all of Nepal's biological diversity, not birds alone.

Nepal is one of the richest countries on Earth for birds relative to its size. The official 'Birds of Nepal: An Official Checklist' published by DNPWC and BCN in 2022 records 892 bird species, roughly 8-9 per cent of the world's bird diversity packed into a country covering about 0.1 per cent of the planet's land. Some international checklists that follow different taxonomy, such as the Clements Checklist, list a slightly higher figure (around 915), so the exact count varies with the classification used.

Of these species, 42 are globally threatened on the IUCN Red List: 10 Critically Endangered, 8 Endangered and 24 Vulnerable. A further 172 species are assessed as Nationally Threatened in Nepal (68 Critically Endangered, 38 Endangered and 66 Vulnerable). Only nine bird species are legally protected under Nepal's National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1973 (2029 BS) - a list the 2024 IBA report notes is more than 40 years old and in urgent need of updating.

This exceptional diversity spans habitats from the subtropical Terai grasslands at under 100 metres to alpine and Trans-Himalayan zones above the treeline. Many resident species are seasonal altitudinal migrants, breeding high in the mountains and descending in winter, while roughly 150 long-distance migrants arrive each winter from Central Asia, Siberia, Mongolia and China.

IBAs are chosen against objective global thresholds rather than opinion, so a Nepali IBA carries the same status as one anywhere in the world. A site qualifies if it meets one or more of four global criteria. Of Nepal's 42 IBAs, 29 qualify because they support globally threatened species, 28 because they hold a significant share of biome-restricted species, 17 because they support restricted-range species, and four qualify on the congregations criterion for large gatherings of waterbirds.

Nepal's IBAs are especially important for restricted-range birds of the Central Himalaya Endemic Bird Area (EBA), and for the characteristic species of the Sino-Himalayan temperate forest and the Eurasian high-montane (Alpine and Tibetan) biomes. This is why high-altitude conservation areas such as Annapurna and Makalu Barun rank among the country's most valuable sites.

A key question for each IBA is whether it already sits inside Nepal's formal protected-area system of national parks, wildlife reserves, hunting reserves, conservation areas and buffer zones. According to the 2024 assessment, 20 IBAs lie wholly within protected areas, one is partially protected, and 17 are unprotected. Because the protected sites tend to be large parks and conservation areas, they account for over 80 per cent of the total IBA network by area, even though nearly half the sites by count lie outside it.

Nepal's protected-area system already covers about 23.39 per cent of the country - among the highest proportions in Asia - yet several bird-rich habitats remain poorly represented. Unprotected IBAs are typically lowland wetlands, community forests, river valleys and farmlands, such as Ghodaghodi Lake, Jagdishpur Reservoir, Phulchoki Mountain Forest, Dharan Forests and Mai Valley. The report flags Gadhi Siraichuli, Phulchoki Mountain Forest, Khandbari-Num and Mai Valley forests as subtropical and Middle Mountain sites that need new or expanded protection.

The condition of these sites is a real concern. A 2011 assessment of the original 27 IBAs found that only three (11 per cent) were in a near-favourable state, while 24 were in an unfavourable or very unfavourable condition, underlining that designation alone does not guarantee good management.

The list below gives the 42 IBAs recognised in the 2024 inventory, in alphabetical order. Sites are spread across all seven provinces and every physiographic belt, from the Terai and Siwaliks up to the High Himalaya. Names in the form 'National Park and Buffer Zone' or 'Conservation Area' indicate a site inside the protected-area system; standalone forest, lake, valley, reservoir, watershed and farmland sites are generally unprotected or only partly protected.

Five Potential IBAs (PIBAs) requiring further survey are also recognised: Badhaiya Tal, Blackbuck Conservation Area, Barju (Chimdi) Lake, the Forests and Grasslands of Dadeldhura and Baitadi districts, and the Tamur Valley and Watershed.

Three IBAs stand out as the most important in Nepal for globally threatened birds: Shukla Phanta National Park in the far west, Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve and Koshi Barrage in the east, and Chitwan National Park and Buffer Zone in the central lowlands. For restricted-range Himalayan species, Annapurna Conservation Area (Western and Central Himalaya EBA) and Makalu Barun National Park (Eastern and Central Himalaya EBA) are unrivalled.

Koshi Tappu is Nepal's premier wetland for birdwatching and the country's first Ramsar site, designated in 1987 for its migratory waterfowl (see our dedicated Koshi Tappu and Ramsar sites guides). Lying in the Sapta Koshi floodplain in Sunsari, Saptari and Udayapur districts, it was gazetted as a reserve in 1976 (2032 BS) and covers about 17,500 hectares. Close to 500 bird species have been recorded there, including the globally threatened Swamp Francolin, Bengal Florican, Black-bellied Tern and White-rumped Vulture, plus vast winter congregations of ducks and waders.

Other renowned birding IBAs include Chitwan (more than 500 species, a UNESCO World Heritage Site), Jagdishpur Reservoir - now holding the largest waterbird concentrations of any Nepali site - and Ghodaghodi Lake in the far west, both Ramsar wetlands. Near Kathmandu, Phulchoki Mountain Forest is a day-trip favourite for its temperate-forest specialities such as the endemic Spiny Babbler, Nepal's only country-endemic bird. High-mountain IBAs like Sagarmatha, Langtang and Kanchenjunga add pheasants, snowcocks and high-altitude finches to a birder's list.

The jump from 27 sites in 2005 to 42 in 2024 reflects better survey coverage, new threatened-species data and the addition of previously overlooked wetlands, community forests and vulture colonies. An interim map in the 2022 official checklist showed 37 IBAs, an intermediate stage in this expansion. Newly added sites include lowland farmland and reservoir complexes important for Sarus Crane and Lesser Adjutant, and several unprotected mid-hill forests.

Not every original site survived the reassessment. Four IBAs from the first inventory no longer qualify: the West Nawalparasi forests, which lost much of their biodiversity value; Urlabari, now absorbed into the larger Morang IBA; and the Tamur Valley, downgraded to a Potential IBA pending further survey. The Bagmati Valley, listed as a Potential IBA in 2005, was surveyed and dropped.

For birdwatchers, biology students and conservation planners, the IBA framework offers a durable, criteria-based map of where Nepal's most important birds actually are - a layer of information that complements simple per-park species counts. Long-term protection of these sites, the 2024 report stresses, will depend heavily on community stewardship through community forests, buffer-zone management and wetland conservation, both inside and outside the formal protected-area network.