Abstract: Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) is the primary step in the conservation of biodiversity. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) formally released a Global Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas in March 2016. This is the first time application of biodiversity elements in the consideration of highlighted sites that make significant contributions to the global persistence of biodiversity. Furthermore, the criteria of KBA incorporate elements of biodiversity across genetic, species, and ecosystem levels, helping countries and regions to identify areas and sites that contribute significantly to biodiversity across global terrestrial, inland waters, and marine environments. This paper provides an overview of the global standards identified by IUCN as KBA criteria, which is based on IUCN's 30 years of experience identifying important areas rich with biological species as well as ecologically and genetically diverse regions. The review focuses on several key principles of the standard and some suggestions for the identification of key biodiversity areas have been proposed in accordance with China's current research activities and practices.