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 | 1,976,000 | 2017 | |
2 | Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area | 1,555,851 | 2017 | |
3 | Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument | 1,508,870 | 2006 | |
4 | Natural Park of the Coral Sea | 1,292,967 | 2014 | |
5 | Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument | 1,277,860 | 2009 | |
6 | South Georgia Marine Protected Area[5] | 1,070,000 | 2012 | |
7 | Coral Sea Marine Park | 989,836 | 2018 | |
8 | Protection zone around the French Southern Territories National Nature Reserve[6] | 989,787 | 2017 | |
9 | Northeast Greenland National Park | 972,000 | 1974 | |
10 | Steller Sea Lion Protection Areas[7] | 869,206 | 2002 | |
11 | Pitcairn Islands Marine Reserve | 834,334 | 2016 | |
12 | British Indian Ocean Territory Marine Protected Area | 640,000 | 2010 | |
13 | French Southern Territories National Nature Reserve[8] | 545,060 | 2016 | |
14 | Palau National Marine Sanctuary[9] | 500,000 | 2015 | |
15 | Kermadec Benthic Protection Area | 469,276 | 2007 | |
16 | Phoenix Islands Protected Area | 408,250 | 2006 | |
17 | Pacific Biosphere Reserve[10] | 390,091 | 2016 | |
18 | Great Barrier Reef Marine Park | 348,700 | 1981 | |
19 | Offshore Trap/Pot Waters Area[11] | 336,101 | 1997 | |
20 | Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park[12] | 300,035 | 2016 |
References
- "World Database on Protected Areas". Protected Planet. UNEP-WCMC. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
- "World Database on Protected Areas User Manual 1.5" (PDF). Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC. 2017. pp. 8–9. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
- "October update of the WDPA". Protected Planet. UNEP-WCMC. Retrieved October 15, 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. October 12, 2017. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
- "A very large Marine Protected Area is created in the Southern Ocean by France". Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. April 24, 2017. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
- "Steller Sea Lion Protection Measures". National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Regional Office. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
- "La réserve naturelle nationale des Terres australes françaises" (in French). French Southern and Antarctic Lands administration. Archived from the original on December 16, 2014. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
- "Palau National Marine Sanctuary". Global Island Partnership. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
- "Four protected areas announced in Cancún". Mexico News Daily. December 6, 2016. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
- "Offshore Trap/Pot Waters Area" (PDF). National Marine Fisheries Service, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. June 1, 2016. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
- "Chilean government officially decrees the creation of the Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park" (Press release). Santiago: Oceana. August 24, 2016. Retrieved October 15, 2017.