Belize Coastal and near shore islands (20764)
Belize, Central America
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: B1, D1a
Year of last assessment: 2007
National site name: Coastal and near shore islands
Central coordinates: Latitude: 16.9312, Longitude: -88.2668
System: marine, terrestrial
Elevation (m): 0 to 50
Area of KBA (km2): 6970.19784
Protected area coverage (%): 19.30
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: This area is comprised of 3 Marine Reserves namely Hol Chan, Caye Caulker and Port Honduras; and seven Forest Reserves: Grants Works, Mango Creek, Swasey-Bladen, Machaca, Caye Caulker, Deep River and Manatee. There are also four Wildlife Sanctuaries: Aguascaliente, Gales Point, Swallow Caye, and Corozal Bay. There are two National Parks: Sarstoon-Temash and Payne’s Creek. The four Bird Sanctuaries are Bird Caye, Monkey Caye, Los Salones and an un-named caye. Altun Ha is the sole Archaeological Reserve and Burdon Canal is the sole Nature Reserve within this IBA.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance that meets the thresholds for at least one criterion described in the Global Standard for the Identification of KBAs.
Additional biodiversity: This 695,622 ha area has 413 recorded species of which 262 are residents, 242 are known or thought to breed in the area, 171 are species not known to nest in the area and 151 that are considered migrants. These include species that meet the A1, A2, A3, A4i trigger criteria.
Delineation rationale: decimal degrees X =-88.26686 Y=16.93121 -- Degrees and minutes 88°16.0116' 16°55.87260' Base datum NAD27 Central America
Habitats
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Marine Coastal/Supratidal | 18 | |
| Shrubland | 9 | |
| Forest | 18 | |
| Savanna | 3 | |
| Artificial - Terrestrial | 9 | |
| Marine Neritic | 25 | |
| Marine Intertidal | 18 |