Installing the WDPA 2005
This version of the WDPA contains two different ways to analyze the information: in GIS format and in Microsoft Excel format. These Excel workbooks have been divided by regions and contain lists of all the protected areas as well as summaries of coverage per IUCN category, per country, etc.
In order to work with the Excel files you will need Microsoft Excel 2000 or higher version. You can open the files on the CD-ROM under \Excel_Regional_Datasets\'your region of interest' but you will need to save them to your hard drive if you decide to make any changes.
NOTE: In order to visualize any of the GIS regional datasets of the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), you need to first install ArcExplorer™ 2 (included in this CD-ROM) or any other Geographic Information System (GIS) software capable of working with "shapefiles." Once the software is installed, you can launch the program and open the respective project file. This section explains how to do these tasks.
The WDPA 2005 CD-ROM contains the a snapshot of the central database kept at UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). Although the snapshot contains all of the information stored in the central database, it has been re-structured to facilitate its use by the end users, using simpler tools included in this CD-ROM.
You can run the database from the CD-ROM. If it performs too slowly, you might consider installing the dataset in your hard drive to improve its performance or to allow you to modify the project files or data (see instruction in Install Database).