Improving the application of Important Plant Areas to conserve threatened habitats: a case study of Uganda

This data set relates to the publication: Richards, S. L., Kalema, J., Ojelel, S., Williams, J., & Darbyshire, I. (2024). Improving the application of Important Plant Areas to conserve threatened habitats: A case study of Uganda. Conservation Science and Practice, e13246. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.13246

Abstract:

Important Plant Areas (IPAs) are a successful method of identifying priority areas for plant conservation. Assessment of IPAs, however, often relies on criteria related to species, while incorporation of habitats has been less consistent. Using Uganda as a case study, we test the application of the threatened habitat criterion – criterion C. We identified nationally threatened habitats using Red List of Ecosystems criteria and assess, for the first time, how differing application of thresholds under IPA criterion C can influence IPA network outcomes. Eleven threatened habitats were identified, with declines switching from predominantly forest to savanna after the mid-20th century. Significantly, we found current IPA guidance on use of criterion C needlessly limits the number of sites that qualify as IPAs. The “five best sites” IPA threshold is reserved for countries where quantitative data is unavailable, however, the application of the relevant numerical thresholds (site contains ≥10% of national resource or site is among the best quality examples required to collectively prioritisie up to 20% of the national resource) to quantitative data largely generated fewer than five IPAs, comparably limiting conservation opportunities identified. We recommend, therefore, that the “five best” threshold is available for application on both qualitative and quantitative data. This will bolster the value of IPAs in conserving and restoring threatened and ecologically important habitats under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Dataset:

Within this dataset is a shapefile of the estimated extent of threatened habitats in Uganda. Each polygon represents a single "site" for each threatened habitat, with methodology for site identification given in the manuscript. Feature area and percentage national resource are given for each site, enabling users to identify those that trigger the different IPA criterion C thresholds.

In this study, we have preliminarily identified the threatened habitats and IPAs for Uganda. However, it is important to seek the expertise and views of stakeholders, consider other IPA criteria met and any complementarity between sites when identifying IPAs. In addition, ground-truthing or more localised data could validate the threat status of a vegetation type as well as identifying which sites are best to conserve these habitats.