The Common Database on Designated Areas or CDDA
is a
data bank In database management and information architecture, a data bank or databank is a repository of information about one or more subjects, that is, a database which is organized in a way that facilitates local or remote information retrieval and is ...
for officially designated
protected area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
s such as
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
s,
protected landscape
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although t ...
s,
national park
A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...
s etc. in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
.
The data bank, which went live in 1999, is a community project of the
European Environment Agency
The European Environment Agency (EEA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) which provides independent information on the environment.
Definition
The European Environment Agency (EEA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) which provides ...
(EEA) of the
Council of Europe and the
(UNEP-WCMC).
The data bank is divided into a national area and an international area. The national area is for member states of the EU or EEA about the
European Environment Information and Observation Network or ''EIONET''. Data cleansing for the national area of non-EEA members and the international area is carried out by UNEP-WCMC systems.
The data bank follows the system of the
(IUCN) and the standards of the United Nations in order to ensure compatibility with similar data banks worldwide, especially the
World Database on Protected Areas
The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the largest assembly of data on the world's terrestrial and marine protected areas, containing more than 260,000 protected areas as of August 2020, with records covering 245 countries and territorie ...
(WDPA).
The data bank can be accessed from the Internet using the website of the
European Nature Information System
The European Environment Agency (EEA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) which provides independent information on the environment.
Definition
The European Environment Agency (EEA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) which provides i ...
(EUNIS).
To date, true
marine protected areas
Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuary, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for ...
such as the Marine Protected Areas in the Atlantic Arc (MAIA) have not been included in the data bank. This is being pursued.
References
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[{{cite web , url=http://www.maia-network.org/homepage/marine_protected_areas/an_ongoing_process , title=An ongoing process , publisher=MAIA , access-date=2015-06-02]
Databases
Environmental policy
Protected areas of Europe
European Union and the environment