Canada

8257 Total Protected Areas
59 With management effectiveness evaluations
Terrestrial Protected Areas
Marine Protected Areas
Other effective area-based conservation measures
136 Total Other effective area-based conservation measures
Polygons/Points ratio
Polygons 100%
Points 0%

Terrestrial Protected Areas Coverage

11.04% Coverage

1,099,376km2 Land Area Protected

9,955,033km2 Total Land Area

11% 6th National Report Coverage

PAME

3.2% With management effectiveness evaluations

318,230km2 Areas Assessed

Marine Protected Areas Coverage

3.13% Coverage

178,077km2 Marine and Coastal Area Protected

5,698,083km2 Marine Area Protected

8% 6th National Report Coverage

PAME

0.14% With management effectiveness evaluations

7,810km2 Areas Assessed

Disclaimer: These statistics might differ from those reported officially by countries due to difference in methodologies and datasets used to assess protected area coverage and differences in the base maps used to measure terrestrial and marine area of a country or territory.

  • Latest National Report Link

IUCN Management Categories

Governance types

Sources (8)

  1. Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database Updated: 2020 Environment and Climate Change Canada
  2. UNESCO World Heritage Sites Updated: 2020 IUCN World Heritage Programme
  3. UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserve Updated: 2018 UNESCO-MAB
  4. Aires Protégées du Québec Updated: 2019 ministère de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques
  5. Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance Updated: 2020 Ramsar Secretariat, on behalf of Ramsar Contracting Parties
  6. UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserves Updated: 2003 UNESCO-MAB
  7. UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserve Updated: 2004 Bureau of the International Co-ordinating Council of the MAB Programme (MAB-ICC) (18th Sesssion), UNESCO HQ Paris
  8. UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserves Updated: 2012 UNESCO-MAB and UNEP-WCMC

Designations

National designations

8309
  • Nature Reserve 84
  • National Park 73
  • Marine Park 1
  • National Marine Park 1
  • Wildlife Refuge 30
  • Marine Protected Area 13
  • Conservation Park 1
  • Wilderness Park 5
  • Migratory Bird Sanctuary 76
  • Protected Area 112
  • Wildlife Sanctuary 1
  • Wildlife Reserve 1
  • Wilderness Area 86
  • Recreation Park 11
  • Ecological Reserve 214
  • Conservation Area 1
  • Wildlife Management Area 83
  • Provincial Park 476
  • Ecological reserve 72
  • Natural Environment Park 11
  • A - Park 628
  • Territorial Park 11
  • White-tailed deer yard 52
  • Natural Area 131
  • Aquatic Reserve 1
  • National Wildlife Area 56
  • Recreation Area 2
  • Wilderness Reserve 2
  • Conservancy 156
  • Protected Natural Area 208
  • National Historic Site 1
  • Cliff inhabited by a colony of birds 6
  • Water fowl gathering area 694
  • C - Park 13
  • B - Park 1
  • Territorial Park - Community Park 2
  • Conservation Reserve 295
  • Privately Owned Natural Area 63
  • Provincially Owned Natural Area 74
  • Provincial Wildlife Management Area 19
  • Island or peninsula inhabited by a colony of birds 106
  • Proposed aquatic reserve 10
  • Wildlife preserve 8
  • Old-growth forest 144
  • Park Reserve 1
  • Wildland Provincial Park 41
  • Proposed ecological reserve 3
  • Heronry 75
  • Muskrat habitat 129
  • Habitat of a threatened or vulnerable wildlife species 30
  • Recognized nature reserve 226
  • Habitat of a threatened or vulnerable plant species 31
  • Proposed biodiversity reserve 85
  • Biodiversity reserve 5
  • Special Management Area 1
  • Conservation Easement 8
  • Habitat Protection Area 9
  • National Marine Conservation Area 3
  • Wildlife Park 1
  • Ecological Reserve / Traditional Use Planning Area 1
  • Provincial Forest 2
  • Ecological Reserve / Provincial Park 1
  • Heritage Rangeland 3
  • Provincial Recreation Area 6
  • Protected Through Indigenous Land Claim Agreement - Heritage Resource 1
  • Protected Through Indigenous Land Claim Agreement 1
  • Territorial Park - Historic Park 2
  • Crown Pasture 63
  • Valued Natural Habitat 17
  • Valued Ecosystem 3
  • Provincial Pasture 51
  • Historic Park 9
  • Representative Area Ecological Reserve 40
  • Recreation Site 106
  • Game Preserve 22
  • Wildlife Habitat Protection 1
  • Saskatchewan Watershed Authority 1
  • Fish and Wildlife Development Fund Land 1
  • Traditional Use Planning Area 4
  • Private Land 184
  • Private Conservation Lands 1
  • Rare forest ecosystem 62
  • Marine park 1
  • Biological refuge 2757
  • Forest refuge 18
  • Salt lick 5
  • Land Use Exclusion Zone in Indigenous land use plan 1
  • National Urban Park 1
  • Canadian Landmark 1
  • First Nation Settlement Land 2
  • Flathead Watershed Area 1
  • Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measure 59
  • WHA Specific 1
  • Resource Management Zone 1
  • Conservation zone in regional land use plan 45
  • Heritage Conservation Zone in regional land use plan 13
  • Privately Owned Conservation Area 1
  • Canadian Forces Base 1
  • Sea to Sky Wildland Areas 1
  • Fee-Simple Ownership by Environmental Non-Governmental Conservation Organization 129
  • Provincially Significant Life Science Area of Natural and Scientific Interest 3
  • Special Protection Natural Environment Park 1
  • Marine National Wildlife Area 1
  • Marine Protected Area By Ministerial Order 1

Regional designations

0

International designations

64
  • UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserve 16
  • Ramsar Site, Wetland of International Importance 37
  • World Heritage Site (natural or mixed) 11

Growth in protected area coverage

The graph excludes status years with no information reported (STAT_YR = 0).

Canada Protected Areas

View all

Wood Buffalo National Park Of Canada

Kluane National Park Reserve Of Canada

Auyuittuq National Park Of Canada

citation

UNEP-WCMC (2020). Protected Area Profile for Canada from the World Database of Protected Areas, October 2020. Available at: www.protectedplanet.net