The map shows the percentage of coverage and coverage change of the terrestrial and marine ecoregions of the world, excluding lakes, rock and ice, by protected areas. The statistics were computed using the World Database of Protected Areas (WDPA) from August 2014 to April 2018 and ecoregion maps defined by Olsen et al. (2001) and Spalding et al. (2007). The marine ecoregions were clipped to the coastline of the terrestrial ecoregions and an outer boundary corresponding to the 200-meter isobath (Spalding et al. 2007). The analysis used all designated protected areas recorded in the WDPA as polygons, or points with a reported area, except for UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserves because many of their buffer areas do not meet the protected area definition of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). All protected areas with a “proposed” or “not reported” status in the WDPA were excluded from the analysis. Points were buffered with a circular buffer corresponding to their reported area. Buffered points and polygons were then combined and all spatial overlaps between protected areas removed to avoid double counting.

Battistella, L., Mandrici, A., Delli, G., Bertzky, B., Bastin, L., Dubois, G. (2018)