Description

This map shows the updated protected areas of North America that are managed by national, state, provincial, or territorial authorities.

As defined by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a protected area is an "area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means."

This map shows protected areas categorized according to their management objective, based on IUCN's classification system, as follows:

1.      Strict nature reserve/wilderness area (managed mainly for science or wilderness protection)

2.      National park (managed mainly for ecosystem protection and recreation)

3.      Natural monument (managed mainly for conservation of specific natural features)

4.      Habitat/species management area (managed mainly for conservation through management intervention.

5.      Protected landscape/seascape (managed mainly for landscape/seascape protection and recreation)

6.      Managed resource protected area (managed mainly for sustainable use of natural systems.

Areas which do not have an IUCN category in the data, have been assigned one of the following classes:

7.      Permanently Unassigned: The protected area does not qualify for IUCN classification.

8.      Temporarily Unassigned: The protected area qualifies for IUCN classification, but the classification has not yet been assigned.

9.      Unclassified: Qualification for IUCN classification has not been determined, or the primary management objective for the area is unknown.

Note that additional protected areas under local or private management are not shown on this map.

Data Source:

Canada

• Conservation Areas Reporting and Tracking System (CARTS)
• Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks

Mexico

• La Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas
• The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Mexico: Bezaury-Creel J.E., J. Fco. Torres, L. M. Ochoa Ochoa. 2007. Base de Datos Geográfica de Áreas Naturales Protegidas Estatales del Distrito Federal y Municipales de México - Versión 1.0,  Agosto 30, 2007. The Nature Conservancy / PRONATURA A.C / Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad / Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas. 6 Capas ArcGIS 9.2 + 4 Capas Goggle Earth KMZ + 1 Archivo de Metadatos Word.

USA

• USGS Gap Analysis Program

Downloadable files

Shapefile [617 MBs]	Geo PDF file [6.5 MBs]
MXD file [624 MBs]	KML file [0.04 MBs]
Metadata [0.1 MBs]