Ireland Protected and Conserved Areas (WDPCA) Geospatial Data

UNEP-WCMC provides this geospatial record of marine and terrestrial protected areas and conservation measures in Ireland, updated as of March 2026. It merges the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and the World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM) into a single framework. The data serves as the primary source for reporting on Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Use Cases

• Spatial analysis of marine and terrestrial boundaries to calculate total conserved land area in Ireland
• Environmental risk assessment for infrastructure projects by overlaying project coordinates with protected area polygons
• Policy tracking for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework using conservation status attributes

Strengths

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

Limitations

• Specific attribute column names and row counts are not detailed in the source metadata
• Geographic scope is restricted to Ireland, requiring external joins for regional or global analysis

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Collaboration with governments and international stakeholders

Freshness

Updated monthly according to the Protected Planet Initiative.

Geography

Ireland