Visualizing Environmental Science

Pacific

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PROTECTED AREAS WORLDWIDE

What are protected areas? Most

people agree that such territories

are dedicated to protecting and

maintaining biodiversity and are

often managed through legal

means. Yellowstone National

Park, established in 1872, is often

cited as the start of the modern

era of protected areas. From a

mere handful in 1900, the number

of protected areas worldwide

now exceeds 104,790, covering

more than 20 million km^2

(7.7 million mi^2 ). North America

claims the most protected land of

any region (in terms of total area),

amounting to almost 18 percent

of its territory. South Asia, at

about 7 percent, has the least

amount of land under some form

of protection. Not all protected

areas are created or managed

equally, and management

categories developed by the

International Union for Conserva-

tion of Nature (IUCN) range from

strict nature reserve to areas for

sustainable use. Management

effectiveness varies widely and can

be affected by such factors as

conservation budgets, and political

stability. Throughout the world—but

especially in tropical areas—protected

areas are threatened by illegal hunting,

overfishing, pollution, and the removal

of native vegetation. Countries and

international organizations no longer

choose between conservation and

development; rather the goal for

societies is to balance the two for

equitable and sustainable resource use.

BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS

Conservation International

identifies world regions

suffering from a severe loss

of biodiversity.

WORLD HERITAGE SITES

The United Nations

Educational, Scientific, and

Cultural Organization

(UNESCO) recognizes natural

and cultural sites of “universal

value.”

LARGEST NATIONAL PARK

North East Greenland National

Park, Greenland, 972,000

km^2 (375,000 mi^2 )

LARGEST MARINE PARK

Northwestern Hawaiian

Islands Marine National

Monument, U.S., 360,000

km^2 (140,000 mi^2 )

LARGEST TROPICAL

FOREST PARK

Tumucumaque National Park

in the Brazilian Amazon

24,135 km^2 (9319 mi^2 )

GeoBytes

UNPROTECTED AREA

88% of Earth’s

land surface

PROTECTED

AREA

12%

Protected areas worldwide

represent 12 percent of the Earth’s

land surface, according to the U.N.

Environmental Programme World

Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Only 0.5 percent of the marine

environment is within protected

areas—an amount considered

inadequate by conservationists

because of the increasing threats

of overfishing and coral reef loss

worldwide.

HAWAII VOLCANOES

NATIONAL PARK, HAWAII

The park includes two of

the world’s most active

volcanoes, Kilauea and

Mauna Loa. The landscape

shows the results of 70

million years of volcanism,

including calderas, lava

flows, and black sand

beaches. Lava spreads out

to build the island, and

seawater vaporizes as lava

hits the ocean at 1149°C

(2100°F). The national

park, created in 1916,

covers 10 percent of the

island of Hawaii and is a

refuge for endangered

species such as the hawks-

bill turtle and Hawaiian

goose. It was made a World

Heritage site in 1987.

GALÁPAGOS NATIONAL

PARK, ECUADOR

Galápago means “tortoise”

in Spanish, and at one time

250,000 giant tortoises

roamed the islands. Today

about 15,000 remain, and

3 of the original 14

subspecies are extinct—

and the Pinta Island

tortoise may be extinct

soon. In 1959, Ecuador

made the volcanic

Galápagos Islands a

national park, protecting

the giant tortoises and

other endemic species.

The archipelago became a

World Heritage site in

1978, and a marine reserve

surrounding the islands

was added in 2001.

WESTERN UNITED STATES

An intricate mix of public

lands—including national

forests, wilderness areas,

wildlife refuges, and

national parks such as

Arches (above)—embraces

nearly half the surface area

of 11 western states. Ten

out of 19 World Heritage

sites in the United States

are found here. It was in

the West that the modern

national park movement

was born in the 19th

century, with the establish-

ment of Yellowstone and

Yosemite National Parks.

MADIDI NATIONAL PARK,

BOLIVIA

Macaws may outnumber

humans in Madidi, Bolivia’s

second largest national

park, established in 1995.

A complex community of

plants, animals, and native

Indian groups share this

18,900–km^2 (7300–mi^2 )

reserve, part of the

Tropical Andes biodiversity

hotspot. Indigenous

communities benefit from

ecotourism.

AMAZON BASIN, BRAZIL

Indigenous peoples help

manage reserves in Brazil

that are linked with Jaú

National Park. The park

and reserves are part of

the Central Amazon

Conservation Complex, a

World Heritage site

covering more than 60,000

km^2 (23,000 mi^2 ). It is the

largest protected area

in the Amazon Basin and

one of the most biologi-

cally rich regions on the

planet.

ARCTIC REGIONS

Polar bears find safe

havens in Canadian parks,

such as on Ellesmere

Island, and in Greenland’s

huge protected area—

Earth’s largest—that

preserves the island’s frigid

northeast. In 1996

countries with Arctic lands

adopted the Circumpolar

Protected Areas Network

Strategy and Action Plan

to help conserve ecosys-

tems. Today 15 percent of

Arctic land area is protected.

What do protected areas around

the world have in common? How

are their concerns shared by

state and local governments and

organizations?

GLOBAL

LOCAL

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