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• Text account
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• Reference and further resources

Year of most recent IBA criteria assessment: 2012

Populations of IBA trigger species

Species	Current IUCN Red List Category	Season	Year(s) of estimate	Population at site	IBA criteria triggered
Red-tailed Tropicbird Phaethon rubricauda	LC	breeding	2008	285 chicks	A4ii
Lesser Frigatebird Fregata ariel	LC	breeding	2008	5,472 chicks	A4ii
Sooty Tern Onychoprion fuscatus	LC	breeding	2008	41,243 chicks	A4i
A4iii Species group - waterbirds	n/a	breeding	2008	42,000 chicks	A4iii

Note: The current IUCN Red List category may differ from the category that was valid at the time of IBA criteria assessment.

For more information about the IBA criteria, please click here

Threats to the site (pressure)
Threat level 1	Threat level 2	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Biological resource use	fishing & harvesting aquatic resources - intentional use: subsistence/sml scale	happening now	majority/most of area/population (50-90%)	slow but significant deterioration	high
Climate change and severe weather	habitat shifting and alteration	likely in short term (within 4 years)	some of area/population (10-49%)	slow but significant deterioration	medium
Human intrusions and disturbance	work and other activities	happening now	small area/few individuals (<10%)	slow but significant deterioration	low
Invasive and other problematic species and genes	invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - unspecified species	past (and unlikely to return) and no longer limiting	whole area/population (>90%)	slow but significant deterioration	low

Condition of the site (state), by habitat
Habitat	Habitat detail	Reference area (ha)	Actual area (ha)	Habitat quantity (% remaining)	Habitat quality (carrying capacity)	Result
Forest	Beach and atoll forest	0	0	good (> 90%)	good (> 90%)	favourable

Condition of the site (state), by species
Scientific name	Common name	Reference population	Actual population	Units	% of population remaining	Result
Phaethon rubricauda	Red-tailed Tropicbird	285	371	nests	100	favourable
Fregata ariel	Lesser Frigatebird	5509	1758	nests	32	very unfavourable
Onychoprion fuscatus	Sooty Tern	41243	28665	nests	70	near favourable

Conservation actions taken at the site (response)
Protected-area designation	Management planning	Other conservation action	Result
Whole area of site (>90%) covered by appropriate conservation designation	A management plan exists but it is out of date or not comprehensive	Substantive conservation measures are being implemented but these are not comprehensive and are limited by resources and capacity	medium

For more information about IBA conservation status, please click here

Protected area (PA)	PA designation	PA area (ha)	Relationship of PA with IBA	Overlap of PA with IBA (ha)
Suwarrow	National Park	160	protected area contained by site	160
Cook Islands Marine Park	Marine Park	197,600,000	protected area is adjacent to site	0

IUCN Habitat	Habitat detail	Extent (% of site)
Forest	Beach and atoll forest, Dry deciduous forest (tropical)	-

For further information about the IUCN habitat classification, please click here.

Land-use	Extent (% of site)
nature conservation and research	-

For further information about the land-use classification, please click here.

Suwarrow was declared a National Park some thirty years ago by the Cook Islands Government and is under the jurisdiction of the National Environment Service.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Important Bird Area factsheet: Suwarrow Atoll National Park. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/23661 on 10/06/2023.