Aliyu Amba - Dulecha (6253)
Ethiopia, Africa

Site overview

KBA status: confirmed

Year of last assessment: 2011

National site name: Aliyu Amba - Dulecha

Central coordinates: Latitude: 9.5770, Longitude: 39.8270

System: terrestrial

Elevation (m): 1050 to 1680

Area of KBA (km²): 69.84989

KBA classification: Global/Regional TBD

Legacy site: Yes

Site details

Site description: This area is on the western edge of the Afar depression at the bottom of the Ankober escarpment. Aliyu Amba is a small town situated in Ankober Wereda. Dulecha is the Wereda capital of Zone 3 in Afar, 38 km from Ankober. The Melka Jebdu river flows between the two towns, 3 km from Aliyu Amba, with the area of importance being where the river runs alongside and then crosses the road. The Gachani and Dulecha rivers also cross this area. The main vegetation should be Acacia-dominated woodland, but the site is highly degraded with only a few bushes, strips of grass and farm plots. Even the riverine forest has been reduced to patches.

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 process of compiling the CEPF Ecosystem Profile of the East Afromontane Hotspot. Species taxonomy and threat category was based on IUCN Red List 2010-4.

Additional biodiversity: See Box and Table 2 for key species. This site supports a small, but apparently stable population of Serinus flavigula. Little is known of the ecology or distribution of this species nor whether the population at this site is contiguous with that on Fantalle mountain in Awash National Park (site ET028). Aliyu Amba–Dulecha is home to at least 15 Somali–Masai biome species, and six Afrotropical Highlands biome species, as well two species of the Sudan–Guinea Savanna biome; see Table 3. Cercomela dubia and Petronia brachydactyla have been found nearby at slightly lower altitudes and may occur in suitable habitat at this site. Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.

Delineation rationale: 2010-02-03 (BL Secretariat): site area was not defined in the original IBA publication/inventory; here, it has been derived by GIS from the draft polygon.

Habitats

Land use: agriculture

Threats

Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: According to local information, no protection measures were taken in the past or have been proposed. The woodland is under high threat from fire for clearing and conversion to farmland. The wetlands of Dulecha are already under maize cultivation supplemented with irrigation. The riverine forests found along the banks of the rivers are potentially rich for bird species, although increased pressure from use by local people have reduced them to small patches.

Additional information