Pemba (lying c.40 km north-east of Zanzibar, both politically part of Tanzania) became separated from the African mainland some four to five million years ago and is today isolated by a trough c.800 m deep. Thus, despite being a mere 50 km offshore, it is regarded as an oceanic island (Archer and Turner 1993; see p. 376 for map). Much of the island is broken up into little valleys and hills thickly covered with plantations (mostly cloves) and coconuts, interspersed with food crops. In addition, it supports a number of other exotic plants and spices, an endemic palm Chrysalidocarpus pembanus and a small area of indigenous coastal forest.

Pemba qualifies as an EBA following the elevation of Treron (australis) pembaensis to full species status (Sibley and Monroe 1993), and of Otus (rutilus) pembaensis and Nectarinia (notata) pembae (Archer and Turner 1993).

Over much of Pemba the endemic species are widespread and common or locally common; both Zosterops vaughani and Nectarinia pembae have been recorded from the smaller offshore islands.

Most of the original evergreen forest on Pemba has been destroyed, and the endemic species are judged to be Near Threatened, given this loss of habitat and their small ranges-despite the fact that all are common. Given the current human population density (estimated at c.280 per km²) and projected population increase over the next 20 years, the threat of deforestation on Pemba can only increase. The status of the endemic birds on the island should therefore be carefully monitored.

The largest area of forest now surviving is Ngezi Forest Reserve (14 km²) which is located at the base of the Kingomasha peninsula in north-west Pemba. However, this forest has been selectively logged, and the shrub layer has been damaged to favour timber production. Smaller areas of forest are located at Mwitu Mkuu, Ras Kiuyu and on certain islands off the coast, but the largest of these occupies only 2-3 km² (Burgess et al. 1992). Traditional graveyards, where logging is prohibited, may provide pockets of suitable, undisturbed habitat in otherwise impoverished agricultural areas for the endemic Pemba flying fox Pteropus voeltzkowi (Entwistle and Corp 1997) as well as for the endemic birds.

Stattersfield, A. J., Crosby, M. J., Long, A. J. and Wege, D. C. (1998) Endemic Bird Areas of the World. Priorities for biodiversity conservation. BirdLife Conservation Series 7. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: Pemba. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/119 on 22/12/2024.