Protected area coverage targets set by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for both terrestrial and marine
environments provide a major incentive for governments to review and upgrade their protected area systems. Assessing
progress towards these targets will form an important component of the work of the Xth CBD Conference of Parties
meeting to be held in Japan in 2010. The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the largest assembly of data on
the world's terrestrial and marine protected areas and, as such, represents a fundamental tool in tracking progress towards
protected area coverage targets. National protected areas data from the WDPA have been used to measure progress in
protected areas coverage at global, regional and national scale. The mean protected area coverage per nation was 12.2%
for terrestrial area, and only 5.1% for near-shore marine area. Variation in protected area coverage among nations was high,
with coverage for many nations under 10%, especially in marine environments. Similar patterns were seen among regions,
with the 10% target for protected area coverage being achieved for nine out of 15 regions for terrestrial area, but only for
three of 15 regions for marine area. Given current rates of protected area designation many nations will have achieved
protection of 10% of their terrestrial area by 2010, but far fewer will have achieved the 10% target for the marine
environment by 2012.