2026-09-25 · percent of terrestrial area
About seventeen percent of land is protected
Aichi / 30×30 targets push higher — most land is still unprotected.
Governments pledged to protect 30% of Earth's land by 2030. As of 2026, only about 17% is protected — 12% under strict protection, 5% in sustainable-use areas. The remaining 83% of the land surface has no formal protection, leaving a 13-point gap to the 30×30 goal.
1 cell = 0.1 percent of terrestrial area (0.1% of land surface) · 1,000 cells
Context
The figures come from Protected Planet's World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), updated monthly with submissions from governments, NGOs, landowners and communities. As of September 2026, terrestrial and inland waters protected area coverage stands at 17.36% — 18.45% once OECMs, areas that deliver conservation outcomes outside formal protected areas, are counted.
The database records 296,001 terrestrial and inland-water protected areas worldwide, alongside 7,433 OECMs. Within the protected share, strict-protection categories (I–IV) cover 12% of land, while sustainable-use categories (V–VI) add 5%.
The ocean lags further behind: marine protected area coverage is 9.81%, or 10.03% including OECMs. Both sit well short of the 30×30 goal of protecting 30% of land and sea by 2030.
WDPA / UN protected planet statistics.
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Credit this grid as Inagrid — https://inagrid.com/e/2026-09-25-protected-land
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