Become a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) Guardian

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity to help save many of our special birds and identify nature’s hotspots.

KBA Guardians come from all different backgrounds and have different skills. But all have one thing in common – a love of nature and a desire to help. This makes for a strong and inspiring national support network.

The project was established in 2016 and has grown each year. The results that come from each area and Guardian provide us with important information. We can compare the results from year to year, and this information helps us get onto problems before they become insurmountable. It also shows us where to target our conservation work.

KBA Guardians don’t need to be bird experts – in fact, we encourage anyone with an interest in the environment to bring their skills to become a KBA Guardian. We need you!

A KBA Guardian helps our birds by:

• identifying current and emerging threats, and those which are most widespread and most need our attention
• finding opportunities for conservation successes
• identifying potential collaborations
• providing baseline data necessary to establish appropriate management for all KBAs in Australia
• assisting with determining ‘KBAs in Danger’.

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What’s involved in KBA Easter Health-Checks

The main task of KBA Guardian is to carry out Health-checks each Easter, providing a valuable snapshot of the threats and conservation actions in the KBA.

The Health-check:

• scores the threats (Pressure), the condition (State) and the conservation actions (Response) in a KBA by applying a simple but powerful internationally standardised protocol
• is repeatable, widely applicable and detailed without being too complex
• provides an early warning system and identifies conservation opportunities that help to prevent the decline of KBAs.

As a KBA Guardian, you will:

• be provided with bird identification and education materials
• be provided with property and site maps and landholder contact details if you’re surveying someone else’s land
• have the opportunity to mentor landholders who want to learn more about the birds on their property.

BirdLife Australia’s KBA program is lucky to have many dedicated KBA Guardians. Without them, we could not collect data on birds and threats to nature in Key Biodiversity Areas. These local experts contribute to actively protecting nature and help save our birds.

Requirements

To do this role, you need:

• a good ecological understanding of the KBA in your Guardianship
• an ability to seek, assess and collate relevant bird and ecological information, and ensure that sensitive information remains confidential
• an ability to communicate to agencies and private landholders
• good interpersonal skills
• an ability to work well within a team of differing levels of knowledge and experience.

The following skills are also desirable:

• knowledge of birds and their habitats
• experience working with BirdLife Australia local or special interest groups
• experience collaborating with Traditional Owners in conservation
• grant writing and workshop skills.

Who is this role for?

We greatly encourage anyone with an interest in protecting nature and birds to bring diverse  skills to the KBA Guardian Program.

KBAs are closer than you think