"A total of 43 out of 225, or 19 percent, of globally threatened bird species are found only in Important Bird Areas that at present have no protected area status," said a media statement on the status of endangered birds in Africa.

The largest unprotected bird area is the Tibesti Massif in Chad that covers 33,000 square kilometres (12,700 square miles), an area larger than the southern African kingdom of Lesotho.

The smallest of these hot spots is a single Kapok tree in Cape Verde islands off west Africa, the breeding site of the endangered Cape Verde Purple Heron.

The statement was released at the fifth World Parks Congress under way in South Africa's eastern port city of Durban, where thousands of delegates are discussing the future of the world's 100,000 environmentally protected areas and how to safeguard them.

The congress publicised a report earlier this week which found that more than 700 endangered mammals, birds and amphibians worldwide were at risk of extinction because they do not live in protected areas.

TERRA.WIRE