Philippines Protected and Conserved Areas: UNEP-WCMC Geospatial Data

Geospatial boundaries and metadata for marine and terrestrial protected areas and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) in the Philippines. Managed by the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre and IUCN, this resource tracks national progress toward the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The data is available in GeoJSON, GeoPackage, and CSV formats with the latest update recorded in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Spatial overlap analysis between industrial project boundaries and protected area geometries to identify biodiversity risks
• Calculation of total terrestrial vs. marine conserved hectares to report on Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework Target 3
• Integration with Global Forest Watch using area status labels to monitor deforestation within specific conservation zones

Strengths

• Official data source for UN Sustainable Development Goal tracking
• Includes both WDPA (Protected Areas) and WD-OECM (Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures) designations
• Available in four distinct formats including GeoService for direct GIS integration

Limitations

• Attribute schema and specific column definitions are not provided in the metadata
• Geographic scope is limited to the Philippines, requiring external joins for regional Southeast Asian analysis

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Compiled from government and stakeholder reports

Freshness

Updated monthly; last recorded update March 2026.

Geography

Philippines