WDPCA: Protected and Conserved Areas in the British Virgin Islands

This geospatial dataset provides the World Database on Protected and Conserved Areas (WDPCA) records for the British Virgin Islands, managed by the UNEP-WCMC and IUCN. It integrates marine and terrestrial protected area boundaries with Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) to support global biodiversity reporting. The data is updated monthly and serves as the official source for tracking Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Use Cases

• Calculating the percentage of terrestrial and marine territory under conservation to track Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
• Spatial risk assessment for commercial projects using boundary data to identify biodiversity risks within project perimeters
• Environmental policy planning by intersecting protected area boundaries with proposed infrastructure or land-use changes

Strengths

• Official UN-backed data source from UNEP-WCMC and IUCN
• Includes both WDPA and WD-OECM conservation frameworks
• Available in multiple formats including GeoJSON, GeoPackage, and CSV

Limitations

• Specific record count for the British Virgin Islands subset is not provided
• Attribute schema details and field definitions are not explicitly listed in the source description

Provenance

Source

The UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC)

Collection Method

Compiled from government reports and stakeholder submissions as part of the Protected Planet Initiative.

Freshness

Updated on a monthly basis; last updated March 2026.

Geography

British Virgin Islands