World Database on Protected Areas

"WDPA" redirects here. For the court, see United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
World Database on Protected Areas
Company typeInternational organization
IndustryConservation; Sustainable Development
Founded1981, Cambridge, England
Websitewww.protectedplanet.net

The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the largest assembly of data on the world's terrestrial and marine protected areas, containing more than 260,000 protected areas as of August 2020, with records covering 245 countries and territories throughout the world.[1] The WDPA is a joint venture between the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA).

Data for the WDPA is collected from international convention secretariats, governments and collaborating NGOs, but the role of custodian is allocated to the Protected Areas Programme of UNEP-WCMC, based in Cambridge, UK, who have hosted the database since its creation in 1981. The WDPA delivers invaluable information to decision-makers around the world, particularly in terms of measuring the extent and effectiveness of protected areas as an indicator for meeting global biodiversity targets.[2] In October 2010, UNEP-WCMC launched the social media-based website Protected Planet, which allows users to interact with and improve the data that is currently recorded on the World Database on Protected Areas.[3]

Every two years, the Protected Planet Report is published by the UNEP-WCMC. This report provides a comprehensive evaluation of the status of the world's protected areas and offers strategic recommendations to meet international conservation goals.[4]

Coral reefs near Enderbury Island, Phoenix Islands Protected Area, the largest marine protected area in the WDPA [5]
  1. ^ "August 2020 update of the WDPA". Protected Planet. UNEP-WCMC. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  2. ^ Chape, S., Harrison, J., Spalding, M. and Lysenko, I. "Measuring the Extent and Effectiveness of Protected Areas as an Indicator for Meeting Global Biodiversity Targets", Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Vol.360 (2005) pp.443–455
  3. ^ United Nations Environment Programme Press Release: "Nagoya 2010: ProtectedPlanet.net takes you to 150,000 spectacular nature sites" Published 19 October 2010
  4. ^ "The World Database on Protected Areas". resources.unep-wcmc.org. February 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  5. ^ Phoenix Islands Protected Area