List of largest protected areas
The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is compiled and managed by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, an executive agency of the United Nations Environment Programme.[1] It uses the IUCN and CBD definitions of protected areas to determine whether a site should be included in the WDPA.[2] The twenty largest protected areas in the October 2017 edition of the WDPA are listed below,[3] in order of size as reported by the relevant data provider.[4] All are marine protected areas except for Northeast Greenland National Park, which is mostly terrestrial but also has a marine component. Protected areas with multiple coterminous or overlapping designations (e.g. Northeast Greenland National Park and the corresponding Biosphere Reserve) are listed only once.
Largest protected areas of the world
Rank | Name | Country or area | Size (sq. km) |
Year designated |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Marae Moana | Cook Islands | 1,976,000 | 2017 |
2 | Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area | Antarctica | 1,555,851 | 2017 |
3 | Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument | Hawaii and Midway Atoll, United States | 1,508,870 | 2006 |
4 | Natural Park of the Coral Sea | New Caledonia | 1,292,967 | 2014 |
5 | Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument | Central Pacific Ocean, United States | 1,277,860 | 2009 |
6 | South Georgia Marine Protected Area[5] | South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | 1,070,000 | 2012 |
7 | Coral Sea Marine Park | Australia | 989,836 | 2018 |
8 | Protection zone around the French Southern Territories National Nature Reserve[6] | French Southern and Antarctic Lands | 989,787 | 2017 |
9 | Northeast Greenland National Park | Greenland | 972,000 | 1974 |
10 | Steller Sea Lion Protection Areas[7] | Alaska, United States | 869,206 | 2002 |
11 | Pitcairn Islands Marine Reserve | Pitcairn Islands | 834,334 | 2016 |
12 | British Indian Ocean Territory Marine Protected Area | British Indian Ocean Territory (disputed by Mauritius) | 640,000 | 2010 |
13 | French Southern Territories National Nature Reserve[8] | French Southern and Antarctic Lands | 545,060 | 2016 |
14 | Palau National Marine Sanctuary[9] | Palau | 500,000 | 2015 |
15 | Kermadec Benthic Protection Area | Kermadec Islands, New Zealand | 469,276 | 2007 |
16 | Phoenix Islands Protected Area | Phoenix Islands, Kiribati | 408,250 | 2006 |
17 | Pacific Biosphere Reserve[10] | Eastern Pacific Ocean, Mexico | 390,091 | 2016 |
18 | Great Barrier Reef Marine Park | Australia | 348,700 | 1981 |
19 | Offshore Trap/Pot Waters Area[11] | Western Atlantic Ocean, United States | 336,101 | 1997 |
20 | Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park[12] | Desventuradas Islands, Chile | 300,035 | 2016 |
References
- ↑ "World Database on Protected Areas". Protected Planet. UNEP-WCMC. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ↑ "World Database on Protected Areas User Manual 1.5" (PDF). Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC. 2017. pp. 8–9. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ↑ "October update of the WDPA". Protected Planet. UNEP-WCMC. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ↑ This is stored in the WDPA under the field name "REP_AREA".
- ↑ "Marine Protected Area". Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ↑ "A very large Marine Protected Area is created in the Southern Ocean by France". Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. 24 April 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ↑ "Steller Sea Lion Protection Measures". National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Regional Office. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ↑ "La réserve naturelle nationale des Terres australes françaises" (in French). French Southern and Antarctic Lands administration. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ↑ "Palau National Marine Sanctuary". Global Island Partnership. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ↑ "Four protected areas announced in Cancún". Mexico News Daily. 6 December 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ↑ "Offshore Trap/Pot Waters Area" (PDF). National Marine Fisheries Service, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. 1 June 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ↑ "Chilean government officially decrees the creation of the Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park" (Press release). Santiago: Oceana. 24 August 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2017.