Release of DOPA Explorer, a web based tool assessing 16 000 protected areas

Dear all,

it is my pleasure to inform you about the release of DOPA Explorer 1.0

The Digital Observatory for Protected Areas (DOPA) has been developed to support the European Union’s efforts in strengthening our capacity to mobilize and use biodiversity data, information and forecasts so that they are readily accessible to policymakers, managers, experts and other users. 

DOPA Explorer 1.0 has just been released in April 2015 as a web based interface available in four languages (EN, FR, ES, PT) providing simple means to explore the nearly 16,000 protected areas on the globe that are at least as large as 100 km2. Distinguishing between terrestrial, marine and mixed protected areas, DOPA Explorer 1.0 can help end users to identify those with most unique ecosystems and species, and assess the pressures they are exposed to because of human development. Recognized by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as a reference information system, DOPA is based on the best global data sets available and provides means to rank protected areas at the country and ecoregion levels. Inversely, DOPA Explorer indirectly highlights the protected areas for which information is incomplete. We finally invite the end-users of DOPA to engage with us through the proposed communication platforms to help improve our work to support the safeguarding of biodiversity.

DOPA Explorer can be accessed (best with Chrome or Firefox) at http://dopa.jrc.ec.europa.eu/explorer 

More information on DOPA can be found at http://dopa.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

I hope you will find this useful.

Best regards

Grégoire Dubois

European Commission - Joint Research Centre