UNEP-WCMC has launched a redesigned and reimagined Protected Planet website. Protectedplanet.net is the online face of the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), a product of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that is managed at UNEP-WCMC. The improved website represents a renewed focus on the data that drive Protected Planet; the download process has been streamlined, statistics are easy to find, and the data you’ll find on the website are as up-to-date as the latest WDPA release.

Protected Planet users are now greeted with a modernised and user-friendly interface, and improvements to the search function mean that visitors can quickly find information on protected areas of interest. Those seeking information on whole countries can navigate to country-level statistics pages offering digestible stats on land and sea coverage. There’s even an option to compare the conservation networks of two different countries. For visitors looking for more in-depth analyses, the 2014 Protected Planet Report and UN List of Protected Areas are also available to download from the website.

Protected Planet enables users, ranging from academics and policymakers to the general public, to view protected areas in the context of global-level conservation. Downloading the data provides conservation planners with a tool to target new initiatives into areas where they can have the most impact and the WDPA can be overlaid with countless other datasets, allowing planners to predict the impacts of their proposals on connectivity, species ranges and ecosystem representation. Governments can compare their conservation systems to those of their neighbours, and private conservationists and communities can discover how they fit into a worldwide network of similar initiatives.

Supported by the Proteus partnership, the WDPA is updated monthly with the latest submissions from governments, non-governmental organizations, landowners and communities. This continuous process of review places it as the most complete, and the most current, global database on protected areas. Visit the Protected Planet website to start exploring.

 
ProtectedPlanet.net allows protected area data to be download in a variety of formats

Additional information

About World Database on Protected Areas
The World Database on Protected Areas is managed at UNEP-WCMC in Cambridge, UK, supported by IUCN staff and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas. It relies on the magnitude of work carried out by staff in institutions in every country working on mapping and collating information on protected areas. Without this work from governments and non-governmental organisations alike, there would be no World Database on Protected Areas.

About ProtectedPlanet.net
ProtectedPlanet.net is the online interface for the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), a joint project of IUCN and UNEP, and the most comprehensive global database on terrestrial and marine protected areas. ProtectedPlanet.net lets you discover the protected areas of the world through exploring the maps and intuitive searching. ProtectedPlanet.net