Protected Planet Report 2020

Context

Recently, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have released Protected Planet Report 2020.

It highlighted that 82 per cent of countries and territories increased their share of protected area and coverage of other effective area-based conservation measures (OECM) since 2010.
Source: DTE
- The OECM are a conservation designation for areas that are achieving the effective in-situ conservation of biodiversity outside of protected areas.
It says that over 21 million square kilometres has been placed within protected and conserved areas.
- It implies that 42 per cent of the area now within protected and conserved areas has been added in the last decade.
It resulted in at least 22.5 million square kilometres (16.64 per cent) of land and inland water ecosystems and 28.1 million square kilometers (7.74 per cent) of coastal waters and the ocean are within protected areas and OECMs.
It highlighted that on an average, 62.6 per cent of key biodiversity areas (KBA) either fully or partially overlaps with protected areas and OECMs.
- The KBAs are sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity, in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.
- The average percentage of each KBA within protected areas and OECMs is 43.2 per cent for terrestrial, 42.2 per cent for inland water and 44.2 per cent for marine (within national waters).

It is the first in the series to include data on OECMs in addition to protected areas.
- OECM are a conservation designation for areas that are achieving the effective in-situ conservation of biodiversity outside of protected areas.
It was issued by UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with support from the National Geographic Society
It underlined the progress the world has made toward the ambitious goals agreed by countries in 2010 at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
It called for existing protected and conserved areas to be identified and recognised by accounting for the efforts of indigenous peoples, local communities and private entities.
It added that a global network of effective and equitable protected and conserved areas will play a vital role in safeguarding the health of people and planet for generations to come.
It provided a strong starting point from which to begin working towards this ambitious goal.

The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA)

The largest assembly of data on the world’s terrestrial and marine protected areas.
The WDPA is a joint venture between the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA).

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