Bjørnøya (Bear Island) (3188)
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway), Europe
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: A1b, D1a
Year of last assessment: 2014
National site name: Bjørnøya
Central coordinates: Latitude: 74.4500, Longitude: 19.0500
System: marine, terrestrial
Elevation (m): 0 to 535
Area of KBA (km2): 2984.57003
Protected area coverage (%): 99.92
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: An oceanic island between Spitsbergen and Norway. There are steep sea cliffs at the southern end, while the northern part is flat with numerous lakes and ponds. There is rich vegetation close to the seabird colonies, but tundra is far more sparse in the central and northern parts. The only permanent human settlement on the island is a meteorological station, which does not pose any threat to the birdlife.
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: There is a very large seabird colony at the southern end of the island with many tens of thousands of pairs, dominated by Rissa tridactyla, Uria aalge and Uria lomvia. Other notable breeding birds include at least five out of the 32 species that are restricted in Europe (when breeding) to the Arctic/tundra biome. The island is an important staging area for an unknown but significant proportion of the Svalbard populations of Anser brachyrhynchus (c.30,000 birds in total) and Branta leucopsis (c.13,000 birds in total).
Delineation rationale: Adopted from an official polygon for a protected area (Bjørnøya Nature Reserve).
Habitats
Land use: not utilised (100%)
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Grassland | 35 | |
| Marine Coastal/Supratidal | 60 | |
| Marine Neritic | 5 |
Threats
Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: Bjørnøya may be developed as a supply base for ships and oil rigs, in the event of future activity by the oil industry in the Barents Sea. However, in 1999 the Norwegian government suggested that the whole island might be designated as a Nature Reserve. Representatives of both the Norwegian and the Russian mining industries have protested against this initiative, and the oil industry is also likely to react negatively to such plans. The greatest threats to birds at the island are oil spills and food shortages, the latter partly due to overfishing. The populations of Fulmarus glacialis, Rissa tridactyla, Uria aalge and Uria lomvia have been monitored since 1986.