Howland Island


Site description (2012 baseline):

Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Climate change is listed as the third greatest threat to seabirds globally (Croxall et al. 2012). It is predicted to decrease the land area of low-lying Pacific islands and cause complete inundation of some islands (IPCC 1997) leading to substantial population declines (Hatfield et al. 2012). Although no current data or predictions are available specific to this IBA climate change represents a potential threat to this site owing to the risk of future sea level rise leading to inundation, and increased frequency of storms.

Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
Invasive mammalian predators had been eradicated by 1986 (Rauzon et al. 2011)

Protected areas
Howland Island is a US National Wildlife Refuge


Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Howland Island (United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/howland-island-iba-united-states-minor-outlying-islands-(to-usa) on 25/12/2024.