Barrage El Houareb (Tunisia) - BirdLife IBA factsheet

TN023

Barrage El Houareb

Current view: Data table and detailed info

IBA Justification

The site was identified as important in 2001 because it was regularly supporting significant populations of the species listed below, meeting ('triggering') IBA criteria.

Populations meeting IBA criteria ('trigger species') at the site:

Species	Red List¹	Season	Year(s)	Size	IBA criteria
White-headed Duck Oxyura leucocephala	EN	winter	-	334 individuals	A1, A4i
Marbled Duck Marmaronetta angustirostris	NT	breeding	1999	150-620 individuals	A1, A4i
Ferruginous Duck Aythya nyroca	NT	winter	1993	1,400 individuals	A1, A4i

1. The current IUCN Red List category. The category at the time of the IBA criteria assessment (2001) may differ.

IBA Conservation

Ideally the conservation status of the IBA will have been checked regularly since the site was first identified in 2001. The most recent assessment (2009) is shown below.

IBA conservation assessment
Year of assessment	State	Pressure	Response
2009	not assessed	very high	low
Whole site assessed?	State assessed by	Accuracy of information
yes	unset	good

Pressure (threats to the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Geological events	happening now	whole area/population (>90%)	moderate to rapid deterioration	very high
Climate change and severe weather	likely in long term (beyond 4 years)	majority/most of area/population (50-90%)	slow but significant deterioration	medium

Response (conservation actions taken for the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Protected areas	Management plan	Other action	Result
Little/none of site covered (<10%)	No management plan exists but the management planning process has begun	Substantive conservation measures are being implemented but these are not comprehensive and are limited by resources and capacity	low

IBA Protection

Year	Protected Area	Designation	% overlap with IBA
2012	Barrage Merguellil - El Houareb	Ramsar Site, Wetland of International Importance	88
2012	Barrage Merguellil - El Houareb	Wetland Zone of National Importance	88

Local Conservation Groups

The Local Conservation Group(s) listed below are working to conserve this IBA.

Name	Year formed
AAO/ Kairouan Regional Branch	2000

For more information on BirdLife's work with Local Conservation Groups, please click here.

Land use

Land use	% of IBA
hunting	-
water management	-

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Barrage El Houareb (Tunisia). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/barrage-el-houareb-iba-tunisia on 23/11/2024.