WDPCA: Protected and Conserved Areas of U.S. Minor Outlying Islands

UNEP-WCMC provides this geospatial dataset detailing marine and terrestrial protected areas within the United States Minor Outlying Islands as of March 2026. It integrates the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and the World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM) into a single conservation record. The data is updated on a monthly basis to support international biodiversity reporting.

Use Cases

• Calculating the percentage of conserved land and water using GEOPACKAGE spatial polygons
• Identifying biodiversity risks for infrastructure projects by overlaying GEOJSON boundaries
• Tracking progress toward Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework Target 3

Strengths

• Official UN-backed data from UNEP-WCMC and IUCN
• Available in four formats including GEOJSON, GEOPACKAGE, and CSV
• Monthly update frequency ensures high temporal relevance

Limitations

• Geographic scope is restricted solely to the United States Minor Outlying Islands
• Specific attribute column names and record counts are not provided in the source metadata

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Compiled from government reports and stakeholder submissions through the Protected Planet Initiative.

Freshness

Updated on a monthly basis; last recorded update March 2026.

Geography

United States Minor Outlying Islands