WDPA: World Database on Protected Areas (polygons)

Dataset Availability

2017-07-01T00:00:00Z–2030-01-01T00:00:00Z

Dataset Provider

UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) / Protected Planet

Earth Engine Snippet

FeatureCollection
ee.FeatureCollection("WCMC/WDPA/current/polygons")

FeatureView
ui.Map.FeatureViewLayer("WCMC/WDPA/current/polygons_FeatureView")

Tags

boundaries iucn marine mpa protected table wcmc wdpa

Description

The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the most up-to-date and complete source of information on protected areas, updated monthly with submissions from governments, non-governmental organizations, landowners, and communities. It is managed by the United Nations Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) with support from IUCN and its World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA).

WDPA User Manual. For details including methodologies,standards, data providers, metadata field definitions and descriptions, refer to the WDPA User Manual.

The WDPA has two feature classes with associated spatial and tabular data on more than 200k protected areas. About 91% contain polygon boundaries, with the remaining only as points, representing the center of the protected area as much as possible.

Asset Naming Conventions. WCMC updates the WDPA on a monthly basis. The most recent version is always available as WCMC/WDPA/current/polygons and WCMC/WDPA/current/points. Historical versions, starting with July 2017, are available in the format WCMC/WDPA/YYYYMM/polygons and WCMC/WDPA/YYYYMM/points.

Please see the WDPA User Manual for additional details on the field list.

Table Schema

Table Schema

Name	Type	Description
WDPAID	DOUBLE	Unique identifier for a protected area (PA), assigned by UNEP-WCMC.
WDPA_PID	STRING	Unique identifier for parcels or zones within a PA, assigned by UNEP-WCMC.
PA_DEF	STRING	PA definition. Whether this site meets the IUCN and/or CBD definition of a PA: 1=yes, 0=no (currently stored outside WDPA).
NAME	STRING	Name of the PA as provided by the data provider.
ORIG_NAME	STRING	Name of the PA in the original language.
DESIG	STRING	Designation of the PA in the native language.
DESIG_ENG	STRING	Designation of the PA in English. Allowed values for international-level designations: Ramsar Site, Wetland of International Importance; UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserve; or World Heritage Site. Allowed values for regional-level designations: Baltic Sea Protected Area (HELCOM), Specially Protected Area (Cartagena Convention), Marine Protected Area (CCAMLR), Marine Protected Area (OSPAR), Site of Community Importance (Habitats Directive), Special Protection Area (Birds Directive), or Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (Barcelona Convention). No fixed values for PAs designated at a national level.
DESIG_TYPE	STRING	Designation type, one of: national, regional, international, or not applicable
IUCN_CAT	STRING	IUCN management category, one of: Ia (strict nature reserve), Ib (wilderness area), II (national park), III (natural monument or feature), IV (habitat/species management area), V (protected landscape/seascape), VI (PA with sustainable use of natural resources), not applicable, not assigned, or not reported.
INT_CRIT	STRING	International criteria, assigned by UNEP-WCMC. For World Heritage and Ramsar sites only.
MARINE	STRING	This field describes whether a PA falls totally or partially within the marine environment, one of: 0 (100% terrestrial PA), 1 (coastal: marine and terrestrial PA), or 2 (100% marine PA).
REP_M_AREA	DOUBLE	Marine area in square kilometers provided by the data provider.
REP_AREA	DOUBLE	The total PA extent, including both marine (if applicable) and terrestrial areas, in square kilometers provided by data provider as specified in the legal text for the site.
NO_TAKE	STRING	No take means that the taking of living or dead natural resources, inclusive of all methods of fishing, extraction, dumping, dredging and construction, is strictly prohibited in all or part of a marine PA. This is only applicable to PAs where the field marine = 1 or 2. One of: all, part, none, not reported, or not applicable (if MARINE field = 0).
NO_TK_AREA	DOUBLE	Area of the marine no-take area in square kilometers.
STATUS	STRING	Status of a PA, one of: proposed, inscribed, adopted, designated, or established.
STATUS_YR	INT	Year of enactment of status in the STATUS field.
GOV_TYPE	STRING	Description of the decision-making structure of a PA. One of: federal or national ministry or agency, sub-national ministry or agency, government-delegated management, transboundary governance, collaborative governance, joint governance, individual landowners, non-profit organizations, for-profit organizations, indigenous peoples, local communities, or not reported.
OWN_TYPE	STRING	Ownership type, one of: state, communal, individual landowners, for-profit organizations, non-profit organizations, joint ownership, multiple ownership, contested, or not Reported.
MANG_AUTH	STRING	Management authority. Agency, organization, individual or group that manages the PA.
MANG_PLAN	STRING	Link or reference to the PAs management plan.
VERIF	STRING	Verification status, assigned by UNEP-WCMC. One of: state verified, expert verified, not reported (for unverified data that was already in the WDPA prior to the inclusion of the ''Verification'' field).
METADATAID	INT	Metadata ID, assigned by UNEP-WCMC. Link to WDPA source table.
SUB_LOC	STRING	Sub-national location. ISO 3166-2 sub-national code where the PA is located. If the PA is in more than one state, province, region etc., multiple ISO-3166-2 codes can be listed separated by a comma and space.
PARENT_ISO	STRING	Parent ISO3 code. ISO 3166-3 character code of country where the PA is located.
ISO3	STRING	ISO3 Code. ISO 3166-3 character code of the country or territory where the PA is located.
GIS_AREA	DOUBLE	Protected area total extent, including both marine (if applicable) and terrestrial areas, in square kilometers calculated by UNEP-WCMC projecting the protected area polygon in the standard Mollweide projection and using GIS software tools.
GIS_M_AREA	DOUBLE	Protected area marine extent in square kilometers calculated by UNEP-WCMC projecting the protected area polygon in the standard Mollweide projection and using GIS software tools.

Terms of Use

Terms of Use

Please visit the full terms and conditions page of Protected Planet. Select highlights below:

No Commercial Use. Neither (a) the WDPA Materials nor (b) any work derived from or based upon the WDPA Materials ("Derivative Works") may be put to Commercial Use without the prior written permission of UNEP-WCMC. "Commercial Use" means a) any use by, on behalf of, or to inform or assist the activities of, a commercial entity (an entity that operates 'for profit') or b) use by any individual or non-profit entity for the purposes of revenue generation.

Disclaimer. The designations of geographical entities in any Data Set do not imply the expression of any view or opinion whatsoever on the part of UNEP or WCMC concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Attribution. You must ensure that the citation is always clearly reproduced in any publication or analysis involving the WDPA Materials in any derived form or format.

Citations

Citations:

• UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (year), Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) [On-line], [insert month/year of the version used], Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN Available at: www.protectedplanet.net.

Explore with Earth Engine

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Code Editor (JavaScript)

var dataset = ee.FeatureCollection('WCMC/WDPA/current/polygons');
var visParams = {
  palette: ['2ed033', '5aff05', '67b9ff', '5844ff', '0a7618', '2c05ff'],
  min: 0.0,
  max: 1550000.0,
  opacity: 0.8,
};
var image = ee.Image().float().paint(dataset, 'REP_AREA');
Map.setCenter(41.104, -17.724, 6);
Map.addLayer(image, visParams, 'WCMC/WDPA/current/polygons');
Map.addLayer(dataset, null, 'for Inspector', false);

Open in Code Editor

Visualize as a FeatureView

A FeatureView is a view-only, accelerated representation of a FeatureCollection. For more details, visit the FeatureView documentation.

Important: Earth Engine is a platform for petabyte-scale scientific analysis and visualization of geospatial datasets, both for public benefit and for business and government users. Earth Engine is free to use for research, education, and nonprofit use. To get started, please register for Earth Engine access.

Code Editor (JavaScript)

var fvLayer = ui.Map.FeatureViewLayer('WCMC/WDPA/current/polygons_FeatureView');

var visParams = {
  color: {
    property: 'REP_AREA',
    mode: 'linear',
    palette: ['2ed033', '5aff05', '67b9ff', '5844ff', '0a7618', '2c05ff'],
    min: 0.0,
    max: 1550000.0
  },
  opacity: 0.8
};

fvLayer.setVisParams(visParams);
fvLayer.setName('WCMC/WDPA/current/polygons');

Map.setCenter(41.104, -17.724, 6);
Map.add(fvLayer);

Open in Code Editor

WDPA: World Database on Protected Areas (polygons)

The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the most up-to-date and complete source of information on protected areas, updated monthly with submissions from governments, non-governmental organizations, landowners, and communities. It is managed by the United Nations Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) with support from IUCN and its …

WCMC/WDPA/current/polygons, boundaries,iucn,marine,mpa,protected,table,wcmc,wdpa

2017-07-01T00:00:00Z/2030-01-01T00:00:00Z

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