Protected and Conserved Areas

The map below renders data from the Proected Plant World Database on Protected Areas and BirdLife Internatonal Key Biodviersity Areas datasets.

Data are served from the official servers of the respective organization. Please be patient while the data render.

World Database of Protected Areas (WDPA)

The World Database of Protected Areas (WDPA) is a comprehensive global database of marine and terrestrial protected areas and is one of the key global biodiversity datasets used by scientists, businesses, governments, international organizations and others to inform planning, policy decisions and management.

The WDPA is a joint project between UN Environment Programme and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The compilation and management of the WDPA is carried out by UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), in collaboration with governments, non-governmental organisations, academia and industry. Data and information on the world's protected areas compiled in the WDPA are used for reporting to the Convention on Biological Diversity on progress towards reaching the Aichi Biodiversity Targets (particularly Target 11), to the UN to track progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, to some of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) core indicators, and other international assessments and reports including the Global Biodiversity Outlook, as well as for the publication of the United Nations List of Protected Areas.

Text adapted from: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (2024), Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA)[On-line], [June 2024], Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN. Available at: https://doi.org/10.34892/6fwd-af11

Key Biodiversity Areas

The World Database of Key Biodiversity Areas is managed by BirdLife International on behalf of the KBA Partnership.^[*] It hosts data on global and regional Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), including Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas identified by the BirdLife International Partnership, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, KBAs identified through hotspot ecosystem profiles supported by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, and a small number of other KBAs. The database was developed from the World Bird and Biodiversity Database (WBDB) managed by BirdLife International.