Laag Dheere (6878)
Somalia, Africa
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Year of last assessment: 2001
National site name: Laag Dheere
Central coordinates: Latitude: 0.5333, Longitude: 41.3333
System: terrestrial
Elevation (m): 200 to 200
Area of KBA (km2): 3982.29012
KBA classification: Global/Regional TBD
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: This site, also spelt Lach Dere, is centred on a large temporary watercourse, or laag, situated in southern Somalia, north-west of Kismaayo, and abuts the frontier with Kenya. Laag Dheere drains the south-eastern sloping plateau of part of north-eastern Kenya and, at the point where it flows into Somalia, it is flanked by permanent swamps and widens into a flood-plain over 40 km across with an area of c.228,000 ha. This includes 11,000 ha of permanent swamp with large Typha and reedbeds with water-lilies in areas of deeper water. In times of flood this seasonal wetland drains, through a series of channels and pans, into the Jubba river, at a point c.40 km before it reaches the coast. In addition, c.400,000 ha of the proposed protected area consists of Acacia–Commiphora bushland and thicket.
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)
Additional biodiversity: See Box and Table 3 for key species. Of the Somali–Masai biome species, Batis perkeo, Pseudonigrita cabanisi and Lamprotornis shelleyi are recorded from few other IBAs in Somalia. Other species which are only known in Somalia from this area include Sporopipes frontalis and Lonchura griseicapilla. Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals which occur, or that used to do so, include Loxodonta africana (EN), Giraffa cameleopardalis (LR/cd), Oryx beisa (LR/cd), Gazella granti (LR/cd), Damaliscus lunatus (LR/cd), Litiocranus walleri (LR/cd), Ourebia ourebi (LR/cd), Beatragus hunteri (CR) and Gazella granti (LR/cd).
Threats
Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: The area has been proposed as a National Park (part) and Wildlife Reserve. The human population density in this area is low in part because of the presence of tsetse flies.