137 Sandgrouse 34 (2012) Akpetky lakes, Sarykamysh lake, Ayakaghytma lake, and their desert surrounds: three new Important Bird Areas in uzbekistan ANNA TEN, ROMAN KASHKAROV, GULARA MATEKOVA, ILIA ZHOLDASOVA & MUKHTOR TURAEV The frst steps of the Important Bird Areas (IBAs) programme in Uzbekistan date back to 1996. However, the real inventory of IBAs began in 2005 within the framework of the “Central Asian IBA project”. In 2005, the Uzbekistan investigators compiled a list of more than 60 potential IBAs and a programme of feld studies was initiated. As a result, 48 IBAs in Uzbekistan were confrmed by the BirdLife International secretariat in 2008. Currently, the Uzbekistan Society for the Protection of Birds (UzSPB) is the main executive agency of the IBA programme in Uzbekistan (Kashkarov et al 2008). Not all potential IBAs were covered by the 2005–2008 studies. Therefore, the main focus of the present project was aimed at filling these gaps. The project was implemented 2010–2011 as part of the conservation leadership programme (CLP, www. conservationleadershipprogramme.org) and save our species programme (SOS, www. sospecies.org). This project was also supported by UzSPB. Field studies in Karakalpakstan were partially supported by the agency of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea of Uzbekistan (IFAS). The main goal of the project was to collect sufficient data to confirm three potential sites as IBAs. The second important goal of the project was to increase the capacity of students and raise awareness of local communities of the importance of their region. Twenty- three students from five Uzbekistan universities—National University of Uzbekistan, Samarkand, Bukhara and Karakalpak State Universities, Kokand Pedagogical Institute— were involved in training and survey work. The principle investigators in this project were Anna Ten, UzSPB IBA programme assistant; Oleg Kashkarov, UzSPB public relations assistant; and Nodir Azimov, a member of the Phasianus birdwatcher’s club and UzSPB member. The three sites surveyed during 2010–2011 were: • Akpetky lake system (southern Aral sea region, Karakalpakstan), 15 October–4 November 2010. • Sarykamysh lake (Ustyurt plateau, Karakalpakstan), 15 October–4 November 2010. • Ayakaghytma lake (southern part of the Kyzylkum desert, Bukhara province), 9–28 April 2011. Justification for IBA status was prepared based on the results of the surveys and pub- lished data. In September 2011 the BirdLife secretariat confirmed the status of the three sites: UZ049 “Akpetky lakes and surrounding Aralkum desert”, UZ050 “Sarykamysh Lake and surrounding Ustyurt Plateau” and UZ051 “Ayakaghytma Lake and surrounding des- ert” (Figure 1). Detailed information on each site is presented below. Methodology Data collection and processing The surveys were conducted according to standard methodologies using point and route counts. The collection and analysis of additional data for completing the IBA data sheets