Site Criteria

The Important Plant Areas criteria are designed to be applicable to vascular plants, hornworts, mosses, lichens, liverworts, algae and fungi. IPAs are identified using three criteria:

A: threatened species

A (i)

Site contains one or more globally threatened species.

Site known, thought or inferred to contain ≥5% of the national population, OR the 5 “best sites” for that species nationally, whichever is most appropriate.

A (ii)

Site contains one or more regionally threatened species.

Site known, thought or inferred to contain ≥5% of the national population, OR the 5 “best sites” for that species nationally, whichever is most appropriate.

A (iii)

Site contains one or more highly restricted endemic species that are potentially threatened.

Site known, thought or inferred to contain ≥1% of the global population AND/OR ≥5% of the national population, OR the 5 “best sites” for that species nationally, whichever is most appropriate. A highly restricted endemic (HRE) is a species with a range of <100 km².

A (iv)

Site contains one or more range restricted endemic species that are potentially threatened.

Site known, thought or inferred to contain ≥1% of the global population AND/OR ≥5% of the national population, OR the 5 “best sites” for that species nationally, whichever is most appropriate. A range restricted endemic (HRE) is a species with a range of >100 km2 but <5,000 km².

B: botanical richness

B (i)

Site contains a high number of species within defined habitat or vegetation types.

For each habitat or vegetation type: Up to 10% of the national resource can be selected within the whole national IPA network OR the 5 “best sites” nationally, whichever is the most appropriate.

B (ii)

Site contains an exceptional number of species of high conservation importance.

Site known to contain ≥3% of the selected national list of species of conservation importance OR the 15 richest sites nationally, whichever is most appropriate.

B (iii)

Site contains an exceptional number of socially, economically or culturally valuable species.

Site known to contain ≥3% of the selected national list of socially, economically or culturally valuable species OR the 15 richest sites nationally, whichever is most appropriate.

C: threatened habitat

C (i)

Site contains globally threatened or restricted habitat / vegetation type.

Site known, thought or inferred to contain ≥5% of the national resource (area) of the threatened habitat type OR site is among the best quality examples required to collectively prioritise 20-60% of the national resource OR the 5 “best sites” for that habitat nationally, whichever is the most appropriate.

C (ii)

Site contains regionally threatened or restricted habitat / vegetation type.

Site known, thought or inferred to contain ≥5% of the national resource (area) of the threatened habitat type, OR site is among the best quality examples required to collectively prioritise 20-60% of the national resource OR the 5 “best sites” for that habitat nationally, whichever is the most appropriate.

C (iii)

Site contains nationally threatened or restricted habitat / vegetation type, AND/OR habitats that have severely declined in extent nationally.

Site known, thought or inferred to contain ≥10% of the national resource (area) of the threatened habitat type OR site is among the best quality examples required to collectively prioritise up to 20% of the national resource OR the 5 “best sites” for that habitat nationally, whichever is most appropriate.

More details

The detailed methodology for IPA identification can be found in these sources:

Browse site by IPA criteria