Metadata - Plantlife Important Plant Areas (IPA) Database
http://www.plantlifeipa.org/home
Beth Newman – Plantlife’s Biological Data and GIS Manager
IPA database overview
This database holds information on sites identified through the Important Plant Areas Programme. Currently the database holds information on IPAs in Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Israel, Lebanon, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Syria, Turkey, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
The database has been developed to bring all available plant and habitat data together in one place, with the aim of making a selection of key sites, assessing their threats and protection levels, and ultimately to disseminate these data in accessible and consistent formats to a range of audiences who have an influence on the protection and conservation of the IPA.
The IPA datasets are made freely available for non-commercial use to help inform conservation planning and other decision-making processes (full terms and conditions http://www.plantlifeipa.org/termsofuse).
IPA Overview
Across the globe plant species and the important habitats that sustain them are disappearing at an accelerating pace. The IPA Programme is a means of identifying the best sites for wild plants (higher and lower), fungi and their habitats using 3 consistent criteria, threatened species, botanical richness and threatened habitats. http://www.plantlifeipa.org/criteria
For more information on the IPA programme to date and how to identify an IPA Network in your country:
http://www.plantlifeipa.org/about
Identifying_and_Conserving_IPAs_around_the_world_-_A_guide_for_botanists.pdf (plantlife.org.uk)
Table 1 - IPA information included within the database:
| Summary tab | |
| Site Code | Automatic code generated by database |
| Country | Country |
| Central coordinates | Longitude, Latitude coordinates of central IPA point |
| Administrative region | Country specific |
| Area | Area of IPA in Hectares (Ha) |
| Altitude | Altitude range in metres (m) |
| Site Description | Taken from Text Account Page below (free text) |
| Botanical Significance | Taken from Text Account Page below (free text) |
| Management guidance notes | An overview summary of the management carried out at the site (free text) |
| Notes | Additional notes for factors not considered in other data fields (free text) |
| Text Account tab | |
| Site Description | Detailed site description (free text) |
| Botanical Significance | An overview summary of why the site is important (free text) |
| Research/ Conservation Projects | Summary of conservation research/ project that affect IPA (free text) |
| Habitat/ Land use | Summary of habitat/ land use on the IPA (free text) |
| Protected Areas (summary) | Summary of protected areas that intersect with IPA (free text) |
| Conservation Issues (summary) | Summary of the conservation issues affecting the IPA (free text) |
| Data Tables tab | |
| Land use | Land use type and level (minor/ medium/ major/ unknown) |
| Protection | Designation type/ Protected Area Name/ Relationship with IPA/ Overlap with IPA (ha) |
| Management | Type management plan/ Description/ Year Started/ Year finishes |
| Threats | IUCN Threat type/ Threat type/ Importance (minor/medium/ major/ unknown) |
| IPA Criteria tab | |
| Threatened Species (Criterion A) | Species Name and authority/ IPA assessment (year)/ Species assessment (year)/ abundance/ data quality/ Criterion type (e.g., Ai, Aii) |
| Botanical Richness (Criterion B) | International Vegetation Classification type (IVC)/ EUNIS level 2 code and name/ IPA assessment (year)/ Habitat assessment (year)/ % of indicator species/ No. of species/ National Biotope/ Data Quality/ Criterion type (e.g., Bi, Bii) |
| Threatened Habitats (Criterion C) | IPA Habitat code and name/ IPA assessment (year)/ Habitat assessment (year)/ Area (Ha)/ Data Quality/ Criterion type (e.g., Ci, Cii) |
| Map tab | Polygon of IPA (where available (uploaded as a kml file)) shows on map tool with central coordinate pin taken from Longitude/ latitude entered on the summary page above |
| References tab | Scientific Papers/ Reports that support/ are referenced in the IPA identification process |
| Contact Information tab | IPA Site Report Compiler/ IPA Project Partner |
Update frequency: New or updated data is added to the database when shared via contributing IPA Partner Organisation.
Language: The primary language is English, with the option to submit information in Project partner’s native language if desirable. There is the additional ability to upload data in non-English scripts such as Cyrillic and Arabic languages.
Database Structure: Database structure supported using SQL Server technology to facilitate reporting capabilities.
Data Submission Process: Data for each site is entered online by national coordinators with secure logins, via a series of online forms (table 1). IPA spatial boundary information can be uploaded as kml format and assigned to each IPA. The database also has provision for confidential treatment of particularly sensitive species.
Parties wanting to submit data should contact: enquiries@plantlife.org.uk
Accessing data: Parties can access site information for each IPA by using the search function tab above. For GIS boundaries please see the GIS tab above.
Plantlife will assess what data has been submitted for the countries requested. If data/ boundaries are available Plantlife will set up a data access agreement with the requesting party and then send through the information in an Excel or Shapefile format.
| Contact Information: | |
| Contact Organization: Plantlife |
Contact Email Address:enquiries@plantlife.org.uk |
| Metadata Updated: October 2023 |