Europe Protected Areas
This layer maps protected and conservation areas across Europe — places designated for their recognised natural or cultural value, where human presence or the use of natu
Source: WDPA / Protected Planet (UNEP-WCMC) Year: 2024 Category: Transition risks · Sensitive areas · Protected areas Coverage: Region (Europe) Format: Boundary polygons Used in risk analysis: Yes — gates Sensitive areas
What it shows
This layer maps protected and conservation areas across Europe — places designated for their recognised natural or cultural value, where human presence or the use of natural resources is limited. It is used to screen whether a site or activity falls inside, or close to, a formally protected area, a key check for nature-related and regulatory risk.
How it is built
The boundaries are drawn from the global protected-areas register published via Protected Planet, filtered to Europe. Each area in the register has been formally designated for conservation because of its natural or cultural importance; designation types range from areas where human activity is excluded to areas where resource use (such as firewood, non-timber forest products or water abstraction) is restricted. The layer represents these designated areas as polygon boundaries.
How to read it
This is a boundary layer rather than a graded score. A site that falls within, or sits close to, one of these polygons should be flagged as intersecting a protected area and reviewed accordingly. Areas outside the polygons carry no protected-area designation in this dataset.
Class thresholds
This is not a continuous physical-flux layer and has no numeric thresholds. It is a presence / boundary mask: the underlying feature is the European protected-areas register (CDDA / Protected Planet), stored as a vector layer of protected-area polygons (siteName and related attributes) with no modelled score. There are therefore only two states for any location: inside a designated protected area, or outside it.
The single "class" is presence. A site is flagged on the Sensitive areas dimension when it intersects a protected-area polygon (the proximity trigger is an intersection, so direct overlap with the feature is required), combined with a material ENCORE pressure/service as set out in the Risk analysis table below.
How these thresholds were set. There is no Darwin classification of a continuous quantity here. Membership is taken verbatim from the European protected-areas register (the Common Database on Designated Areas, published via Protected Planet); no numeric breaks or bins are applied, and no proximity buffer distance is configured — the trigger is direct spatial overlap.
Reference: Protected Planet (World Database on Protected Areas) — protectedplanet.net.
Source
Protected Planet (World Database on Protected Areas) — https://www.protectedplanet.net/en/.
Comparison with the WWF Risk Filter Suite
This corresponds to WWF Biodiversity Risk Filter indicator S14_1 Protected/Conserved Areas. WWF draws on the global World Database on Protected Areas (UNEP-WCMC, accessed via IBAT). Darwin's layer is sourced from the same global register, focused on European coverage.
Risk analysis
A site is flagged on a dimension by combining a proximity trigger (this layer) with an activity trigger (the entity's ENCORE pressure/service). Proximity only → Potentially material; proximity and the matching ENCORE pressure/service is material → Very material; neither → Not material.
| Dimension | ENCORE service / pressure | Proximity trigger (this layer) | Activity trigger (entity) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sensitive areas | Sensitive area disturbance | Site overlaps / is near the feature | impact ratio ≥ 10%; “Disturbances (e.g noise, light)” pressure ≥ 4; “Introduction of invasive species” pressure ≥ 4; “Area of freshwater use” pressure ≥ 4; “Area of seabed use” pressure ≥ 4; “Area of land use” pressure ≥ 4; “Other biotic resource extraction (e.g. fish, timber)” pressure ≥ 4; “Volume of water use” pressure ≥ 4; “Emissions of non-GHG air pollutants” pressure ≥ 4; “Generation and release of solid waste” pressure ≥ 4; “Emissions of toxic soil and water pollutants” pressure ≥ 4; “Emissions of nutrient soil and water pollutants” pressure ≥ 4 |
Generated from darwin/layers/layer-europe-protected-areas.toml and risk_indicator_pairs.toml (develop).