Lake Chilwa and flood-plain (Malawi) - BirdLife IBA factsheet

MW016

Lake Chilwa and flood-plain

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
Fulvous Whistling-duck Dendrocygna bicolor	LC	non-breeding	1999	100,000 individuals	A4i
Black Crake Zapornia flavirostra	LC	non-breeding	1999	100,000 individuals	A4i
Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio	LC	non-breeding	1996	2,500 individuals	A4i
Allen's Gallinule Porphyrio alleni	LC	non-breeding	1999	200,000 individuals	A4i
Lesser Moorhen Paragallinula angulata	LC	non-breeding	1999	600,000 individuals	A4i
African Spoonbill Platalea alba	LC	non-breeding	1996	300 individuals	A4i
Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus	LC	non-breeding	1999	5,000 individuals	A4i
Black Heron Egretta ardesiaca	LC	non-breeding	1996	600 individuals	A4i
Great Snipe Gallinago media	NT	winter	-	uncommon	A1
African Skimmer Rynchops flavirostris	LC	non-breeding	2000	280 individuals	A1, A4i
Grey-headed Gull Larus cirrocephalus	LC	non-breeding	1996	2,500 individuals	A4i
Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus	NT	winter	-	present	A1
Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni	LC	winter	-	present	A1
A4iii Species group - waterbirds	n/a	non-breeding	1999	1,000,000-2,499,999 individuals	A4iii

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 (2001) is shown below.

IBA conservation assessment
Year of assessment	State	Pressure	Response
2001	not assessed	high	not assessed
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
Biological resource use	happening now	majority/most of area/population (50-90%)	moderate to rapid deterioration	high

Response (conservation actions taken for the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Protected areas	Management plan	Other action	Result
Not assessed	Not assessed	Not assessed	not assessed

IBA Protection

Year	Protected Area	Designation	% overlap with IBA
1996	Lake Chilwa	Ramsar Site, Wetland of International Importance	100
2006	Lake Chilwa Wetland	UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserve	-

Habitats

Habitat¹	Habitat detail	% of IBA
Wetlands (inland)		57
Forest		16
Artificial/Terrestrial		14
Shrubland		12

1. IUCN Habitat classification.

Land use

Land use	% of IBA
agriculture	-
fisheries/aquaculture	-
hunting	-
nature conservation and research	-

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Lake Chilwa and flood-plain (Malawi). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/lake-chilwa-and-flood-plain-iba-malawi on 23/11/2024.