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© Jeff Larsen

The Important Bird Area (IBA) program is a global effort spanning more than 100 countries to identify areas that are most important for maintaining bird populations, and to focus conservation efforts on protecting these sites.

IBAs have been identified in all of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Canada, and some of Latin America. The identification phase is still in progress in the United States, Asia, and the rest of Latin America.

Together with BirdLife International, Audubon is working with many partners in the North American Bird Conservation Initiative to identify those places that are critical to birds during some part of their life cycle – breeding, wintering, feeding, migrating.

© Jeff Larsen

Habitat loss and fragmentation are the most serious threats facing birds across America and around the world, so the goal of the IBA program is to minimize the effects of such loss and fragmentation – in order, ultimately, to save and restore bird species and numbers.

Shade Coffee Campaign A group of local coffee roasters, retailers, and importers joined with Seattle Audubon Society to form the Northwest Shade Coffee Campaign, to raise awareness in the coffee industry and in the public at large about the positive role of shade coffee in conserving migratory birds. Buying shade-grown coffee is a small thing you can do to make a big difference to birds in coffee-growing countries.

In the U.S., the IBA program has become a key component of many bird conservation programs, including Audubon, Partners in Flight, North American Waterbird Conservation Plan, and the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan.