Definitions
Land statistics use a handful of terms that sound alike and mean different things. These are the ones the numbers on this site depend on.
- Protected area
- In the words of the IUCN: a clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values.
- IUCN categories
- Six management categories, from strict nature reserves and wilderness (I) through national parks (II), natural monuments (III), habitat management areas (IV) and protected landscapes (V) to areas with sustainable use of natural resources (VI).
- World Database on Protected Areas
- The global register of protected areas, maintained by the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre and updated monthly from government submissions.
- OECM
- Other effective area-based conservation measure: land that delivers lasting conservation without being a designated protected area — some community, indigenous or military lands, for example. It counts towards the 30% target but is recorded separately.
- 30 by 30
- Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in December 2022: at least 30% of land, inland waters and seas effectively conserved by 2030.
- Land area
- Total area excluding inland water bodies and offshore claims.
What the figure does not tell you
Designation is not protection. The series records what is declared, not how well it is managed or funded; “paper parks” count the same as well-guarded ones.
The share says nothing about which land is protected. Remote, unproductive land is cheaper to set aside than fertile lowland, so a high percentage can still leave the most threatened habitats outside.
Overlapping designations are dissolved before areas are summed, but boundaries are revised often, so year-to-year changes are partly corrections.
Countries report the numbers themselves, to different standards and with different delays. Small year-to-year movements are often revisions rather than events.