KBAS: IMPACT REPORTHOW YOUR GENEROSITYIS MAKING A DIFFERENCE TO THREATENED BIRDS IN NATURE’S HOTSPOTS

From the CEO

Paul SullivanChief Executive Officer

Above: Around 80% of the world’s Plains-wanderer population lives in the Patho Plains and Riverina Plains Key Biodiversity Areas. M RodgersTop: The stunning Gawler Ranges KBA in southern South Australia. G Ehmke

In March 2017, BirdLife Australia launched the Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) Campaign, introducing a new global standard of biodiversity recognition to the conservation effort in Australia.

For the first time, we have a common language for the most important places left for life on Earth.

In June 2017, we asked for your support to help save five KBAs under immediate threat of permanent ecological damage. The response we received was nothing short of overwhelming.

In this update on our progress since then, I would like to thank you for your wonderful generosity in supporting this ground-breaking initiative. I hope to share some of the ways your support of KBAs is already resulting in outstanding outcomes for birds and biodiversity in Australia.

Your support of BirdLife Australia has enabled us to lead the way in a global partnership of independent organisations to fight for endangered species living in Australia's most diverse habitats.

So what has the campaign achieved in the months since it was launched?

BirdLife Australia's KBAs in Danger report has been sent to over 170 key decision-makers who influence KBAs under immediate threat, including The Hon Josh Frydenberg MP, Federal Minister for the Environment and Energy, who has requested a

briefing from BirdLife Australia on the significance of KBAs in conserving Australia's biodiversity.

Dr Golo Maurer, Manager of the KBA Program, has been appointed as National Coordinator for Australia's KBAs and convened the first Australian meeting of the international KBA Partnership.

In the west, the voices of 25,000 Australians have been delivered to the Parliament of WA to call for an immediate halt to the clearing of crucial Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo habitat.

In the north, BirdLife Australia has formed a partnership with Tiwi Island Indigenous Rangers to protect Crested Tern breeding colonies in the Seagull Island KBA.

In Tasmania, predator-proof nest boxes are being trialled for the Critically Endangered Swift Parrot.

And in the south east, a multi-state tour to empower local communities to stand up for the Murray-Darling Basin has resulted in 70 gigalitres of water being retained for threatened birds in wetland KBAs.

So what's next for the KBA Program?

On a local level, BirdLife Australia will continue to recruit KBA Guardians and mobilise communities to advocate for these irreplaceable habitats.

Nationally, BirdLife Australia is engaging our fellow environmental NGOs and academic partners to develop a more complete picture of KBAs across Australia, based on the 1,002 non-avian species currently threatened with extinction.

It is the generosity of donors such as yourself that supports our fight against extinction and makes all of our conservation achievements possible.

On behalf of the BirdLife Australia community, I thank you for your generosity and continued support.

You inspire us to keep fighting for nature.

Right: CEO Paul Sullivan with BirdLife Australia supporters, on the steps of Parliament House in Perth, representing the voices of over 25,000 Australians to urge WA decision-makers to act to save Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos from extinction. T Douglas

Cover: Sooty Terns flock over the spectacular mountain peaks of Lord Howe Island, one of Australia’s 315 Key Biodiversity Areas. J Schick

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Indigenous partnerships are a central aspect of the KBA Program and thanks to your generosity, BirdLife Australia has announced the recipient of the 2017 Indigenous Grant: the Tiwi Land Council in the Northern Territory.

The Tiwi Land Council will make use of the Grant to support its work on Pirripatiriyi, or Seagull Island KBA, a globally significant breeding site for Crested Terns.

The terns are an important species for the local community and Traditional Owners, and the Tiwi Land and Marine Ranger programs undertake on-ground conservation work, such as removal of marine debris and weeds, to maintain open sandy areas as Crested Tern breeding sites.

The Rangers hope to increase their monitoring of the terns' breeding efforts and laying and hatching success, as well as the predation of nests by Silver Gulls, to assist with the management of the site.

More than 80% of Australians live within 50 km of a KBA. Thanks to your generosity, passionate citizen scientists around the country are now being trained to monitor and care for their local KBAs.

These KBA Guardians provide invaluable information on the health of habitats in their local KBA and carefully monitor the communities of birds that make these sites such biodiversity hotspots.

Since March 2017, 27 new KBA Guardians have come on board to monitor sites as varied as the lush wetlands of the Paroo and Currawinya Floodplain KBA in NSW and the dense woodlands of the Bindoon-Julimar KBA in WA.

In addition, the KBA Program now has KBA Guardian Coordinators for 6 of the 8 states and territories. This important role involves supporting KBAs and their Guardians across the entire region – which can cover up to 74 individual KBAs!

Thousands more BirdLife Australia volunteers submit bird surveys year-round to our national

BirdLife Australia's 2016 Indigenous Grant recipients, the Millingimbi Rangers of East Arnhem Land, discovered a previously unknown shorebird site of international significance in the Crocodile Islands. Nestled in a complex network of sandbanks and mudflats, the site holds over 40,000 shorebirds, including 297 Eastern Curlews and 3,988 Great Knots, both of which are Critically Endangered species.

With many of Australia’s KBAs located in remote parts of Australia, and the number of applicants to the Indigenous Grant growing each year, your support for the KBA Program is more important than ever. With your help, BirdLife Australia hopes to form many more partnerships with Land Councils and Indigenous Ranger groups to collaboratively monitor and manage the birds and biodiversity at these internationally important sites.

Above: A Crested Tern roost. G EhmkeBelow: Tiwi Land and Marine Rangers on site the Seagull Island KBA Crested Tern breeding colony. Tiwi Land Council

People Power

Below: Thanks to your generosity towards the KBA Program, there are now more than 1,600 volunteers around Australia working to protect these sites of extraordinary birdlife and biodiversity. G Maurer

2017 Indigenous Grant: Seagull Island KBA

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KBA Guardians Saving birds, protecting nature’s hotspots

A vital voice for birds:

• 27 new KBA Guardians monitoring the health of their local KBA

• New state coordinators recruited to cover 6 states and territories of Australia

• 1,600 volunteers around Australia regularly monitoring and working in a total of 65 KBAs

• Almost 21,000 volunteer hours dedicated to the health of local KBAs

monitoring program, Birdata, contributing directly to the largest environmental dataset in Australia.

This citizen science data underpins all of BirdLife Australia's conservation actions and science-based advocacy, putting volunteers at the heart of everything we do.

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In the same hearing, BirdLife Australia also called on the Federal Government to immediately terminate the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement that is accelerating the extinction of the Swift Parrot by opening up habitats otherwise protected by federal law to logging. Unfortunately, this request was denied.

Since the decision, your generosity has enabled BirdLife Australia to double our efforts in Tasmania by recruiting the extensive experience of Tasmanian-based conservation campaigner Charlie Sherwin. Charlie is an expert in the policy surrounding woodland ecosystems and has extensive experience in influencing both policy decisions and on-ground outcomes affecting birds such as the Swift Parrot.

While Charlie focuses his energy on how BirdLife Australia can best leverage the BirdLife International partnership, the world's largest partnership for nature, to develop policies that will save the Swift Parrot, a new partnership has formed to boost the success of Swifties this breeding season.

BirdLife Australia has joined with the Australian National University in a world-first for the Swift Parrot. One hundred predator-proof nest boxes have been distributed across important breeding sites for Swift Parrots on the Tasmanian mainland, allowing them to seek refuge from a very surprising predator, the Sugar Glider, during the parrots' breeding season.

These predator-proof nest boxes, designed by the Difficult Birds Research Group, are fitted with a mechanical door that is triggered by light to open in the day and seal tight in the evening. These simple yet effective nest boxes keep the nesting Swift Parrots and their chicks safe from predators like the Sugar Glider, which not only eat eggs but chicks and adult birds too.

With fewer than 400 breeding pairs remaining in the wild, your generosity is giving this vibrant species a fighting chance at recovery.

Right: Your generosity has enabled BirdLife Australia to boost the campaign to save the Swift Parrot by partnering with the ANU to install 100 predator-proof nesting boxes on the east coast of Tasmania, to save Swift Parrot eggs and chicks from predation this breeding season. D Stojanovic, ANU

Bruny Island KBACore breeding habitat for a Critically Endangered migratory parrot

Much of the world’s biodiversity occurs in forests, with almost two-thirds of all bird species relying on forest habitats. Deforestation as a result of human actions poses a major threat to bird populations and the Critically Endangered Swift Parrot is no exception.

Although Tasmania's Bruny Island currently has a moratorium on logging until 2020, a proposal was recently made to open up 356,000 hectares of forest. This would immediately endanger 12,000 hectares of critical breeding and feeding habitat for one of the world's only migratory parrots.

Supported by your generosity, BirdLife Australia has been successful in ensuring the ban on logging remains firmly in place until at least 2020.

In May, Paul Sullivan and BirdLife Tasmania Branch President, Dr Eric Woehler, spoke to Tasmanian

Legislative Council members about the critical importance of Bruny Island habitat.

Their presentation highlighted the very real risk of the Swift Parrot being forced to extinction if the moratorium was lifted and logging began.

In this public hearing, the forestry industry also warned Council members that customers would refuse timber sourced by destroying critical Swift Parrot breeding habitat.

The Council decided in favour of BirdLife Australia's submission and upheld the moratorium keeping Swift Parrot breeding habitat safe until at least 2020.

Swift Parrot

Below: The rocky shores of magnificent Bruny Island KBA, which is the most important breeding habitat left for the Critically Endangered Swift Parrot. Shutterstock

Swift Parrot

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Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo

Northern Swan Coastal Plain KBACritical banksia woodlands for the survival of a much-loved species

Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo is one of just two species of white-tailed black-cockatoos in the world, and one of Australia’s most loved birds.

A familiar sight in and around the city of Perth, the Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo has experienced dramatic population declines as a result of the relentless removal of the bushland that has traditionally provided its feeding and roosting habitat.

The future of the Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo is dependent upon safeguarding remaining habitat on the Northern Swan Coastal Plain, and your support has meant BirdLife Australia can tackle the issue on a number of fronts.

Thanks to the generosity of donors around Australia, banksia seedlings have been planted by community groups in the Perth-Peel area to grow the next generation of feeding habitat.

A committed group of BirdLife Australia volunteers has raised funds to regularly fly a 3-metre Carnaby’s kite at popular Perth community events, boosting the profile of this threatened bird and starting conversations with community members about what they can do to save it. The group was recently invited to fly the kite at an outdoor art installation in Perth to share the plight of Carnaby's with over 200,000 visitors.

BirdLife Australia has also joined with an alliance of environmental organisations in WA to strengthen the community voice for action to protect the Carnaby's population.

This powerful voice is starting to be heard.

The Labor State Government has committed to reviewing the Green Growth Plan due to the sustained public pressure against it, showing the fantastic outcomes that community engagement can achieve for threatened species.

Petitioning for change

These magnificent birds are part of our cultural heritage. They play an important part in both enriching the lives of all Western Australians who are privileged to see them, and in the greater landscapes they inhabit.

– Kate, BirdLife Australia supporter

This bird is a fascinating, entertaining and vocal species and loved by all – a special bird to have in one's own yard or local area. It would be a great loss if this species disappears from our landscape altogether and would reflect poorly on our government and our nation as a whole.

– Margaret, BirdLife Australia Member

Success for WA’s native birds

It’s official – after months of focused campaigning by BirdLife Australia's WA branch, proposed mining of the Helena and Aurora Range KBA has been deemed “environmentally unacceptable” by the state Environment Minister, Hon. Stephen Dawson.

Minister Dawson fully endorsed the EPA's assessment of the Range as "the most significant intact banded ironstone formation range left in the Yilgarn region of WA," and dismissed all nine appeals against the decision.

This wonderful result is a step towards lasting protection for the Helena and Aurora Range, which is a refuge for threatened flora and fauna, including 76 native birds and two flowering plants found nowhere else on Earth.

Right, top to bottom: Flying a kite for Carnaby’s in Perth; a Carnaby’s feeding on mature banksia cones; community groups planting the next generation of feeding habitat for Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo, thanks to your generosity to the KBA campaign. H Bryant, K Lightbody, K Zwickl, K Zwickl

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Left: WA Program Manager Helen Bryant and Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo Project Coordinator Adam Peck with volunteers, raising awareness of the plight of Carnaby’s in Perth. C Groom

Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo

In addition, BirdLife's WA Program Manager Helen Bryant and Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo Project Coordinator Adam Peck met with the new WA Environment Minister, Hon Stephen Dawson, to promote the importance of the Perth-Peel habitat for Carnaby's populations. They were also able to provide advice directly to the Minister on how the Green Growth Plan can be updated in the best interests of the remaining Carnaby’s population.

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Moreton Bay and Pumicestone Passage KBAA wetland haven supporting Critically Endangered migratory shorebirds

An international treaty known as the Ramsar Convention protects wetlands that are important to biodiversity on a global scale.

The Moreton Bay and Pumicestone Passage KBA, just north of Brisbane, is one such Ramsar-listed wetland. The wetland provides habitat for over 40,000 migratory and resident shorebirds of 40 different species each summer.

Despite the fact that Australia was one of the first countries to sign the Ramsar Convention, Moreton Bay is the proposed site of a $1.4 billion multi-level residential and retail harbour development, including a 400-berth marina and 3,600 residential apartments.

The dredging required for this development will destroy crucial feeding sites for Critically

Endangered birds like the Eastern Curlew and Great Knot. If it proceeds, almost 50 hectares of wetland used by these species to feed and roost will be lost to reclamation.

BirdLife Australia has been involved in opposing this development in its current form since it was first proposed in 2011, based on the devastating effects it will have on internationally significant bird populations and the precedent such a development would set for the destruction of Ramsar wetlands in Australia and around the world.

Your generosity has made it possible to present a powerful voice to protect Moreton Bay to the authorities responsible for making the ultimate decision about its future.

BirdLife Australia's Head of Conservation, Samantha Vine, has met with the Queensland Environment Department to champion the crucial importance of the Moreton Bay KBA to the survival of migratory shorebirds, Australia's most rapidly declining group of birds.

In this meeting, Sam drew attention to the KBAs in Danger report profiling Moreton Bay as a key feeding and roosting site for the Critically Endangered Eastern Curlew, warning that this species has already undergone a population decline of 82% over the last 30 years.

With your support, BirdLife Australia has consulted directly with the Ramsar Secretariat and BirdLife International partners to leverage global support for the wetland.

Judith Hoyle, the Convenor of BirdLife Australia's Southern Queensland Branch, has appeared on SBS and ABC News, local radio and numerous online news sites to showcase the passionate community support for protecting Moreton Bay for the birds that call it home.

To keep momentum for the campaign strong, BirdLife Australia joined with local community group Redlands2030 to host the inaugural Welcome Home Shorebirds event in December.

Welcome Home Shorebirds brought shorebird experts and community members together to watch exhausted shorebirds arrive in Toondah Harbour, touching down in for the first time since completing the epic 10,000km journey from their breeding grounds in Alaska.

We have 35% of the world’s population of the Eastern Curlew coming to Moreton Bay as part of their global migration. If we don't start to say that every little piece of habitat matters, these birds will become extinct in my lifetime.

– Judith Hoyle, BirdLife Australia Branch Convenor

Below: Your generosity has enabled BirdLife Australia to meet with the Qld Environment Department to discuss the importance of Moreton Bay KBA to the survival of migratory shorebirds, like these Bar-tailed Godwits feeding on Moreton Bay’s mudflats. C Walker

Right, top to bottom: The proposed development in Moreton Bay KBA; Judith Hoyle advocating for Moreton Bay on SBS News; supporters gather to welcome home shorebirds in December, and the Critically Endangered Eastern Curlew. Redlands2030, SBS, W Boglary, D Weller

Eastern Curlew

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The Murray-Darling Basin's Macquarie Marshes is one of the largest semi-permanent wetland systems in eastern Australia. It is recognised as a vitally important site for Australia’s waterbirds, providing habitat for 72 different bird species.

Despite the Macquarie Marshes KBA's status as a haven for tens of thousands of birds, in 2017 it faced devastation after a proposal was made to strip 70 gigalitres of water – a staggering 70,000,000,000 litres – from the Northern Basin.

Thanks to your generous support, BirdLife Australia has campaigned successfully as part of an alliance of community, Indigenous and environmental groups to have this proposal voted down by the Federal Government.

BirdLife Australia's Conservation Campaigners responded quickly to the threat of water reductions, joining the Lifeblood Alliance on a

Macquarie Marshes KBAOne of the largest wetland havens for waterbirds in eastern Australia

Voices for the river

The waterbirds of the Murray-Darling Basin are like the canaries in the coalmine – their numbers are in serious decline and giving a clear signal that the Basin is not healthy.

– Anne J, BirdLife Australia Member

We look forward to decisions being made that will provide more careful management of environmental water flows in order to achieve an equitable allocation of scarce water resources among the many users who are dependent on Australia’s biggest river system.

– Kerry and Bob M, BirdLife Australia supporters

Our water catchment areas and waterways are the heart and veins of our nation. If we let them become depleted, we destroy a vital eco-system. I want my grandchildren to inherit the vast and healthy bird life and the habitats that support it.

– Bruna C, BirdLife Australia supporter

multi-state to empower and mobilise communities living throughout the Murray-Darling Basin to voice their concerns to the Federal Government.

BirdLife Australia's Conservation Campaigner Connie Lee visited towns across NSW, Victoria and SA to speak to people living in catchment areas to galvanise community support for a healthy river system with adequate environmental flows.

Connie collected over 5,000 signatures and comments from supporters around Australia expressing the vital role that environmental water allocations play in their lives, through the wildlife and habitat they sustain.

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Right, top to bottom: BirdLife Australia’s Connie Lee speaks with communities long the Murray-Darling Basin about advocating for threatened birds like the Australasian Bittern and Australian Painted Snipe. ACF, C Lee, T Kinsman, A Silcocks

Below: Your generosity enabled communities throughout the Murray-Darling Basin to stand up for important wetlands like Macquarie Marshes KBA, which provides vital habitat for the Endangered Australasian Bittern. J Ocock

Australasian Bittern During National Water Week, this petition was presented to the Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP and the State and Federal Water Ministers, alongside the support of an additional 15,000 voices, collected by partners in the Lifeblood Alliance, including the Australian Conservation Foundation and Environment Victoria.

In February 2018, the Federal Government recognised the importance of the Basin Plan for native bird communities by voting against the draining of 70 billion litres of water from its banks.

While the long-term safety of the Macquarie Marshes KBA remains uncertain, the Senate's vote has protected thousands of birds breeding throughout the Murray-Darling Basin from the most immediate threat. BirdLife Australia's KBA Guardians will continue to monitor the wetlands and the bird communities relying on them.

Thank you for standing with BirdLife Australia to protect this vital river system and the tens of thousands of birds for which it provides refuge.

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Christmas Island is an extraordinary ecological paradise, often referred to as the "Galapagos of the Indian Ocean".

Since European settlement, however, the island has lost a staggering 80% of its native mammals and reptiles. Your support is helping BirdLife Australia to prevent similar extinctions in the unique bird species clinging to life in the island's stunning rainforests.

Abbott's Booby is one of the world's most evolutionarily distinct birds. This large Endangered seabird nests only on Christmas Island, the island's rainforest providing the last remaining nesting habitat on Earth.

A mining exploration licence within this pristine rainforest is currently being considered by the Federal Government. If approved, this would push the already Endangered Abbott's Booby closer to

Christmas Island KBAThe last refuge for one of the planet’s most evolutionarily distinct birds

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the brink of extinction.

Your generosity has enabled BirdLife Australia to respond to this pending catastrophe by bringing protected area management expert Andrew Hunter on board to advocate for the protection of Abbott's Booby habitat on Christmas Island.

Working closely with Christmas Island-based BirdLife Australia supporters and the extensive BirdLife Australia network of partners, Andrew is building a case for ecotourism as an alternative to mining, to support the Abbott's Booby population, rather than drive it closer to extinction.

Below: An Abbott’s Booby nesting in its only remaining breeding habitat on the planet. BirdLife Australia is uniquely placed to advocate for these birds on the brink of extinction using science-based advocacy and our international network of partners. S Summers

Right, top to bottom: The overwhelming support shown for Abbott’s Booby in BirdLife Australia’s petition; Andrew Hunter leading the campaign to protect the Christmas Island KBA, and an adult Abbott’s Booby undergoing rehabilitation on the Island. Change.org, A Hunter, S Summers

The surface mining required to extract phosphate from beneath the lush Christmas Island rainforest would decimate this KBA, removing tall rainforest trees used by Abbott's Booby pairs to nest and raise their young.

Christmas Island’s unique biodiversity provides an exciting opportunity for ethical nature-based tourism. Ecotourism would support the local community in a sustainable and economically viable way, providing a sound alternative to the short-term gain of mining.

A petition started by Andrew calling for a safe future for Abbott's Booby has attracted more than 52,000 signatures from Australia and around the globe in only a few weeks, demonstrating the passion and reach of the global KBA partnership.

This petition will be presented to key policy advisers as well as the Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP to urge the Federal Government to commit to an end to mining on Christmas Island and invest in ecotourism as a more sustainable and ethical future for the island, its people and its wildlife.

Abbott’s Booby

Saving a species

I want my grandchildren to be able to see the amazing wildlife that lives in Australia and on offshore islands. Islands are not for mining, but havens for wildlife.

– Maureen C, BirdLife Australia Member

These extraordinary birds are intrinsic to an area that is rich in ecological and biological values... it is vital that a commitment is made to protect the unique conservation values of amazing Christmas Island.

– Christine B, BirdLife Australia supporter

We still have much to learn from Australia's wonderfully diverse fauna and flora, along with all the nature's cycles and systems that support them. It's time to stop fouling our nest!

– Erin B, BirdLife Australia supporter

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Thank you for your support

BirdLife Australia relies on philanthropic support to continue achieving outstanding conservation results for our native birds and their habitats.

If you have any questions about the impact of your donations or upcoming opportunities to make a lasting contribution to the future of native birds, please contact:

Bronwyn JamesDonor Relations Coordinator(03) 9347 0757 ext. 238 bronwyn.james@birdlife.org.au

BirdLife Australia would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands we work in and the significant contribution that Indigenous knowledge has made and continues to makes to the conservation of native birds in Australia.

Australia’s voice for birds since 1901

BirdLife Australia is dedicated to achieving outstanding conservation results for our native birds and their habitats.

With our specialised knowledge and the commitment of an Australia-wide network of volunteers and supporters, we are creating a bright future for Australia’s birds.

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