Welcome to the WDPA 2006
This CD-ROM contains the 2006 version of the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), including all GIS and attribute data for protected areas of IUCN categories I through VI, other protected areas and areas defined under global international agreements. These data are also presented as a series of tables in Microsoft Excel format organized by regions. A GIS viewer (ArcExplorer 2™ by ESRI) is provided for analyzing data and manipulating maps.
The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the core database representing protected areas at a global scale including -where available- GIS- compatible point and boundary files. Compiled from multiple sources, the WDPA is the most complete compilation of protected areas data ever developed.
The WDPA plays a critical role in measuring progress toward global goals and targets and will function "...as a key support mechanism in the assessment and monitoring of protected area status and trends taking into account paragraph 4 of decision VI/7 C of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as national and regional databases on protected areas..."
These major international goals and targets include the UN Millennium Development Goals, the 2010 targets identified by the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the Durban Action Plan agreed at the World Parks Congress in 2003, and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Programme of Work on Protected Areas agreed at the CBD 7th Conference of the Parties (COP7) held in February 2004.
WDPA 2005 was launched in November 2004 at the World Conservation Congress in Bangkok, Thailand. WDPA 2006 is released at COP8, the 8th Conference of the Parties to The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), at Curitiba, Brazil, in March 2006.
This is the fourth anual release of the database on CD-ROM. We hope the success of this effort continues...
The present content of the WDPA 2006 is summarized in the following table.
| Protected Areas | Total number | with GIS data |
|---|---|---|
| National level IUCN categories I - VI | 70,585 | 26,384 |
| National level, non-IUCN categories | 47,320 | 31,137 |
| TOTAL | 117,905 | 57,521 |
| International Conventions | 2,978 | 1,595 |
| Regional Conventions | 1,784 | n/a |