EMODnet Human Activities, Environment, Nationally Designated Areas

The dataset on Nationally Designated Areas was created in 2014 by Cogea for the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). It includes polygons and points and it is based on the 'NatDA_2026_v01_public' both geographical and tabular datasets from the European Environmental Agency (EEA) and it is available for viewing and download on EMODnet web portal (Human Activities, https://emodnet.ec.europa.eu/en/human-activities). The European inventory of Nationally designated areas holds information about designated areas and their designation types, which directly or indirectly create protected areas. The Nationally designated areas is the official source of protected area information from the 38 European member countries to the World Database of Protected Areas (WDPA). The inventory began in 1995 under the CORINE programme of the European Commission. The NatDA is now an agreed annual Eionet core data flow maintained by the European Environment Agency (EEA) with support from the European Topic Centre on DataIntegration and Digitalisation (ETC DI). The dataset is used by the EEA and e.g. the UNEP-WCMC for their main European and global assessments, products and services. The data can be queried online in the European Nature Information System (EUNIS). Geographical coverage: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo (UNSCR 1244/99), Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingom. The EEA does not have permission to distribute some or all sites reported by Estonia, Ireland and Türkiye. In the webmap the dataset has been filtered in order to show only marine and coastal areas. Where available each polygon/point has the following main attributes: NatDA ID, country code, country name, site name, legal foundation date, national ID, area type/code (Designated boundary, Designated site, Strict protection boundary), IUCN category/description (Ia: Strict Nature Reserve; Ib: Wilderness Area; II: National Park; III: Natural Monument or Feature; IV: Habitat/Species Management Area; V: Protected Landscape/ Seascape; VI: Protected area with sustainable use of natural resources; Not applicable; Not assigned; Not reported. For more information please check the 'Guidelines for Applying Protected Area Management Categories' available at: https://iucn.org/resources/publication/guidelines-applying-protected-area-management-categories-including-iucn-wcpa), area (ha), major ecosystem type (Marine, Marine and terrestrial, Terrestrial), marine area percentage, spatial resolution (Scale 100K-250K, Scale larger 100K, Unknown), remarks, marine/coastal location of features (1) as per Cogea's calulation. For further information please visit the EEA's website. Compared with the previous release, this one includes the public version 24.00 of the Nationally designated areas dataset published by the EEA in July 2026.