World Protected Areas 2019 (vector) - version 1, Feb. 2023

This metadata refers to The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECM) database are joint products of UNEP and IUCN, managed by UNEP-WCMC and the IUCN working with governments, communities and collaborating partners. The databases store information on the global distribution of terrestrial and marine protected areas and OECMs. The databases contain protected areas and OECMs designated at the national level and under regional and international conventions and agreements, in addition to those not legally designated. International designations include those under the Ramsar Convention, the World Heritage Convention (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO), and sites under the UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB). Regional agreements include sites under the Natura 2000 network (European), as well as Marine Protected Areas designated under regional conventions such as the Convention for the Protection of the marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR) and many others. The WDPA has been in existence since 1981, and is the most comprehensive global database on terrestrial and marine protected areas, comprising both spatial data (i.e. boundaries) and attribute data (i.e. descriptive information). The mandate of the database dates from 1959 when the United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council called for a list of national parks and equivalent reserves in recognition that they ‘are valuable for economic and scientific reasons and also as areas for the future preservation of fauna and flora and geologic structures in their natural state’ Resolution 713 (XXVIII). The first UN List of Protected Areas, as it became known, was subsequently published in 1962, and subsequently evolved into the WDPA. The database is also used to generate indicators to track progress towards the Convention on Biological Diversity Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 and UN Sustainable Development Goals 14 and 15. Reference Time: The WDPA was created for the first time in 1981. It stores data on protected areas around the world from their year of creation. This currently ranges from 1819 to 2019. The OECM database will be available on the Protected Planet website from late-2019. THE WORLD DATABASE ON PROTECTED AREAS (THE SPATIAL SERVICES) HAS BEEN USED IN THE COPERNICUS GLOBAL LAND HOT SPOT MAPPING (C-GL-HSM) CONTRACT UNDER THE COORDINATION OF JRC TO OBTAIN STATISTICS ON LAND COVER CHANGES INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE PROTECTED AREAS.