EarthTrends (http://earthtrends.wri.org) Searchable Database Results Provided by the World Resources Institute (http://www.wri.org) "Biodiversity and Protected Areas -- Protected Areas: World heritage sites, extent" "Units: Thousand hectares" ,,2006, World "World {1}","",183528.2, ,,2006, Region/Classification "Asia (excluding Middle East)","",10429.2, "Central America & Caribbean","",5618.6, "Europe","",23249.0, "Middle East & North Africa","",10798.1, "North America","",21199.6, "Oceania","",48832.6, "South America","",32645.2, "Sub-Saharan Africa","",30756.0, "Developed Countries","",93996.1, "Developing Countries","",89537.2, "High Income Countries","",71497.0, "Low Income Countries","",31040.0, "Middle Income Countries","",80594.2, ,,2006, Country "Algeria","DZA",8000.0, "Argentina","ARG",1136.2, "Australia","AUS",44729.2, "Bangladesh","BGD",139.7, "Belarus","BLR",5.0, "Belize","BLZ",96.3, "Bolivia","BOL",1523.0, "Brazil","BRA",8595.7, "Bulgaria","BGR",41.0, "Cameroon","CMR",526.0, "Canada","CAN",10663.6, "Côte d'Ivoire","CIV",1484.3, "Central African Rep","CAF",1740.0, "China","CHN",2022.6, "Colombia","COL",72.0, "Congo, Dem Rep","COD",6854.6, "Costa Rica","CRI",854.3, "Croatia","HRV",29.5, "Cuba","CUB",103.8, "Dominica","DMA",6.9, "Ecuador","ECU",14538.4, "Egypt","EGY",25.9, "Estonia","EST",3.8, "Ethiopia","ETH",13.6, "France","FRA",23.1, "Germany","DEU",0.1, "Greece","GRC",0.7, "Greenland","GRL",402.4, "Guatemala","GTM",57.6, "Guinea","GIN",13.0, "Honduras","HND",525.0, "Hungary","HUN",0.0, "India","IND",300.1, "Indonesia","IDN",5192.4, "Italy","ITA",0.0, "Japan","JPN",83.8, "Kenya","KEN",305.0, "Macedonia, FYR","MKD",38.0, "Madagascar","MDG",152.0, "Malawi","MWI",9.4, "Malaysia","MYS",128.2, "Mali","MLI",400.0, "Mauritania","MRT",1200.0, "Mexico","MEX",2737.0, "Mongolia","MNG",946.7, "Nepal","NPL",208.0, "New Zealand","NZL",4066.4, "Niger","NER",7956.0, "Norway","NOR",122.7, "Oman","OMN",2750.0, "Panama","PAN",1234.8, "Peru","PER",2179.9, "Philippines","PHL",53.4, "Poland","POL",5.5, "Portugal","PRT",15.0, "Romania","ROU",679.2, "Russian Federation","RUS",20997.0, "Saint Helena","SHN",397.0, "Senegal","SEN",929.0, "Serbia and Montenegro","YUG",32.0, "Seychelles","SYC",35.0, "Slovakia","SVK",0.0, "Slovenia","SVN",0.4, "Solomon Islands","SLB",37.0, "South Africa","ZAF",1065.5, "Spain","ESP",86.9, "Sri Lanka","LKA",11.3, "St. Lucia","LCA",2.9, "Suriname","SUR",1600.0, "Sweden","SWE",1082.5, "Switzerland","CHE",56.1, "Tanzania","TZA",6860.5, "Thailand","THA",1193.0, "Tunisia","TUN",12.6, "Turkey","TUR",9.6, "Uganda","UGA",131.7, "United Kingdom","GBR",30.5, "United States","USA",10133.6, "Venezuela","VEN",3000.0, "Viet Nam","VNM",150.0, "Zambia","ZMB",3.8, "Zimbabwe","ZWE",679.7, Footnotes "1 -- World" "World total was calculated by WRI." Source "United Nations Environment Programme - World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). 2006. World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). Data set available on CD-ROM. Cambridge, U.K: UNEP-WCMC. Online at http://www.unep-wcmc.org/wdpa/." "" "" Technical Notes "Definition:" "Protected Areas: World heritage sites, extent refers to the total area, measured in thousand hectares, of all World Heritage sites located in a country. World Heritage sites represent areas of ""outstanding universal value"" for their natural features, their cultural value, or for both natural and cultural values. They are protected by the World Heritage Convention, adopted in 1972. Sites must be nominated by the signatory nation that has territorial jurisdiction over them, and they are then evaluated for their world heritage quality before being declared by the World Heritage Committee. Parties to the Convention commit to the conservation of the listed sites. " "" "Years Covered and Frequency of Update:" "The dataset shown here is for 2006 and was taken from the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), released in March 2006. The original source is available on-line at: http://www.unep-wcmc.org/wdpa/. The database is updated by the United Nations World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC) on a continual basis. " "" "Methodology:" "This dataset shows only natural or natural/cultural sites. Natural sites contain examples of a major stage of the earth's evolutionary history; outstanding physical, biological, and geological processes; a unique or superlative natural phenomenon, formation, or feature; a habitat for a threatened species; or areas of value on scientific or aesthetic grounds, or from the point of view of conservation. " "" "Cultural sites contain monuments, group of buildings or sites of historical, aesthetic, archaeological, scientific, ethnological, or anthropological value. Several countries share World Heritage Sites. These sites, referred to as International Heritage Sites, are counted only once in continental and world totals, although they are tallied in each country that share that site. For example a site shared between Argentina and Brazil will be listed under the country total for both Argentina and Brazil. " "" "Some World Heritage sites simultaneously encompass areas protected under other systems (such as national parks or nature reserves) and other internationally recognized sites (such as Ramsar sites or Biosphere Reserves). " "" "The areas of World Heritage sites, by country, were calculated by WRI using the WDPA GIS point file containing all terrestrial and marine internationally-designated protected areas." "" "Please refer to the original source for further information on the variables and collection methodologies or to the World Heritage Centre Web site, http://whc.unesco.org/." "" "Data Reliability:" "The areas listed here may be artificially small because many World Heritage Sites do not contain area estimations in the WDPA database. " "" "The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) represents the most comprehensive database on protected areas in the world. Although the WDPA Consortium has made every effort to provide an up-to-date and accurate database, they are continually working to improve data quality. Data limitations stem from data gaps, geographic or attribute data inaccuracies, and the challenge of tracking global information and knowledge on protected areas." "" "Data gaps are the result of uneven global data coverage, especially the lack of geographic data for many protected areas. Also, data evolution and inconsistencies in updating new information are a constant challenge. The number and extent of protected areas are underreported by many countries. These issues will only be addressed as improved and more recent data sources become available. "