Mahzam and Al-Alam Area (Iraq) IBA | Details

IQ047

Mahzam and Al-Alam Area

Current view: Details

IBA Justification

The site was identified as internationally important for bird conservation in 2014 because it was regularly supporting significant populations of the species listed below, meeting IBA criteria.

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

Species	Red List	Season (year/s of estimate)	Size	IBA criteria
Iraq Babbler Argya altirostris	LC	resident (2009)	10 breeding pairs	A2

IBA Conservation

Ideally the conservation status of the IBA will have been checked regularly since the site was first identified in 2014. The most recent assessment (2014) is shown below.

IBA conservation status
Year of assessment	State	Pressure	Response
2014	not assessed	very high	very low
Whole site assessed?	State assessed by	Accuracy of information
no	unset	medium

Pressure (threats to the key species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Biological resource use	happening now	whole population/area (>90%)	rapid deterioration (>30% over 3 generations)	very high

Response (conservation actions taken for the key species and/or their habitats)
Designation	Planning	Action	Result
Little/none of site covered (<10%)	Not assessed	Not assessed	very low

Habitats

Habitat	% of IBA	Habitat detail
Shrubland	major (>10)
Wetlands (inland)	major (>10)	Permanent rivers, streams & creeks

Land use

Land use	% of IBA
hunting	major (>10)
fisheries/aquaculture	major (>10)
agriculture	major (>10)
energy production and mining	major (>10)

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Important Bird Area factsheet: Mahzam and Al-Alam Area (Iraq). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/mahzam-and-al-alam-area-iba-iraq on 16/01/2025.