Pedra Badejo lagoons (6141)
Cape Verde, Africa

Site overview

KBA status: confirmed

Year of last assessment: 2016

National site name: Pedra Badejo lagoons

Central coordinates: Latitude: 15.1333, Longitude: -23.5333

Elevation (m): 0 to 15

Area of KBA (km²): 1.0542

Protected area coverage (%): 64.72

KBA classification: Global/Regional TBD

Legacy site: Yes

Site details

Site description: The site comprises two lagoons and the surrounding area, situated south of the town of Pedra Badejo on Santiago, in an intensively cultivated area. Banana, sugar-cane, manioc and various vegetables are grown; there are also extensive stands of coconut-palm. The brackish lagoons, which hold water all year-round, lie at the mouth of three major watercourses (Ribeira dos Picos, Ribeira Montanha and Ribeira Seca), which are dry most of the year but may swell to violent torrents during the rains. Large quantities of mud and debris are then deposited in the lagoons and surrounding areas, attracting many waders and herons.

Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance because it meets one or more previously established criteria and thresholds for identifying sites of biodiversity importance (including Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, and Key Biodiversity Areas) KBA identified in the CEPF Ecosystem Profile of the Mediterranean Hotspot (2017). Taxonomy, nomenclature and global threat category follow the 2016 IUCN Red List.

Additional biodiversity: See Box and Table 2 for key species. About 20 species of wader have been recorded, numbering up to c.300 birds, exceptional in the Cape Verdes. The lagoons are also regularly visited by herons (eight species recorded—both migrants and residents—including Ardea (purpurea) bournei), and small parties of Platalea leucorodia are observed annually. Acrocephalus brevipennis is rather common in the cultivated areas. Other breeding species include Halcyon leucocephala, Sylvia conspicillata and S. atricapilla. Gallinula chloropus formerly bred, but has not been recorded since the late 1960s; this is, with site CV002, one of only two places in the Cape Verdes where the species has been known to breed. Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.

Habitats

Land use: agriculture

Threats

Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: In view of the location of the site and its heavy use by local people and domestic livestock, protection of the lagoons will be difficult, perhaps impossible, to implement. In the past, the edges of the lagoons were lined with reedbeds, but these have apparently been cleared during the last decades—presumably a (or the) reason for the disappearance of Gallinula chloropus.

Additional information