Term Explanation & Source Designated Sites are nationally designated. Designated is defined as the authority correspond to national legislation or common practice (e.g. by means of an executive decrees or the alike) officially endorses a document of designation. Total area protected The size of the protected area is the officially documented extent provided by the national authority unless otherwise stated. Year of establishment Year in which site is nationally designated. Not all protected areas in the WDPA have a known year of establishment, therefore approximately 43,500 sites have been excluded from the growth chart of nationally designated protected areas (1872 - 2006). Source Nationally designated protected areas data extracted from World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), a joint venture between UNEP and IUCN, produced by UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, 31st January 2007. Please contact protectedareas@unep-wcmc.org for more information.