According to the statistics of the World Conservation Union between 1992 and 2003, the national reserves in the world are 63,478 in number, covering 11.3 percent of the world’s total land, and of which Asia (except for Central Asia) has 3,655, Europe has 39,432, Central Asia and North Africa have 561, Africa south of the Sahara has 1,486, North America has 7,412, Central America and Caribbean region have 1,476, South America has 1,697 and Oceania has 7,759; there are 55,408 national reserves in the developed countries and 8,070 in the developing countries.

The data of national reserves shown in table 11-5 comes from the unpublished data of the World Conservation Monitoring Centre; the data of biosphere reserves is from the UNESCO - Man and Biosphere Program’s Biosphere Reserves Directory and World Heritage List; the data of the world’s important wetlands is from Ramsar Convention Bureau’s List of Wetlands of International Importance.

All the protected areas are a sum of the natural reserves with an area of at least 1,000 hectares in IUCN Management Categories.

The fully protected areas are kept in their natural states, and opened and used reasonably. This kind of protected areas includes three management categories as follows:

Category I: the scientific and strict natural reserves with perfect and representative ecosystems. Generally, the public’s entrance is restricted. They are just used for scientific studies and education.

Category II: the national and provincial parks, with larger areas and of national or international significance, and basically are not changed substantially by human beings. Visitors can use them for entertainment and study purposes.

Category III: the natural sites and boundary markers, which include unique geographic structures, special species of animals and plants, or extraordinary habitats, and so on.

Partial protected areas are those that can be managed for particular use, such as entertainment or travelling, or those that provide the best living environment for some species and wildlife communities. Certain developments and applications are allowed in these areas. The partial protected areas have two management categories.

Category IV: the natural reserves and areas closed to hunting wildlife, both with management. They are protected for a particular purpose, for example, to protect an important species of animals or plants.

Category V: the protected landscape and seascape, which could be completely the natural or cultural landscape.

The national reserves listed in table 11-5 do not include the local or provincial protected landscape or private areas.

The protect regions with areas of at least 100, 000 and 1 million hectares mean all the IUCN category I to V protected areas that are included in these two categories. The total is the sum of single areas in number, some of which are probably not the bordering blocks. These figures are not added, plus which the sum will exceed the total protected areas of 100, 100 or 1 million hectares.

Biosphere reserves mean that, according to UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Program, each protected area must have a diversity natural ecosystem of a particular bio-geographical region, and must be big enough to form an effective protection unit. Each protected area also must include the protection and study core areas with the lowest disturbances, where the buffer zones could be around and the land is allowed to be used traditionally, and the experimental study and restoration work of ecosystems are allowed as well.