Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
An extensive, largely untouched wilderness area with a wide range of habitats dominated by wetlands, with forest to the east and mountainous territory to the west. The main wetlands comprise open marshes, shallow lakes and wet
Betula forest. There are 44,000 ha of virgin
Picea and
Pinus forest in the drier areas.
The IBA is important for breeding wetland and forest species, including a diversity of raptors. Breeding birds include eight out of the 15 species in Europe that are restricted (when breeding) to the boreal biome. Species of global conservation concern that do not meet IBA criteria:
Gallinago media (three breeding pairs). Numbers of birds given as breeding in the IBA are probably underestimates due to the size of the survey area.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Attempts have been made to start mineral exploration in the IBA˜these are currently on hold for economic reasons. Proposals have been put forward by the Swedish EPA to designate the area as a National Park.
National High
International HighIBA overlaps with Nature Reserve (285,000 ha). 188,600 ha of IBA covered by Ramsar Site (Sjaunja, 188,600 ha). 208,000 ha of IBA covered by World Heritage Site (Lapponia, 940,000 ha). IBA overlaps with Special Protection Area (281,000 ha).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Sjaunja (Sweden). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/sjaunja-iba-sweden on 22/12/2024.
