Wikipedia:WikiProject Protected Areas

Introduction Since a few years I have been wanting to put together a parks & reserves database, but I never came around to doing it. I wanted it to be thorough with names, locations, sizes, descriptions, maps and lots of other data. A great opportunity to achieve that and to share it with other people is given by Wikipedia. On this page you will find a tentative proposal for a WikiProject Protected Areas. Lots of things will probably still have to be discussed.

Please remember that these are only suggestions. In Wikipedia nobody can be forced into following certain methods or procedures. The goal of this project, like others, is to provide a way of organizing information about a particular subject. But if you want to follow a completely different way to do that, please go ahead. Your way is probably as good as this one, if not better.

Title WikiProject Protected Areas

Scope This WikiProject aims primarily to provide information on all Protected Areas (from now on called PA's) in the world. A PA as defined by The World Conservation Union (IUCN) is An area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means. National parks are probably the best-known PA's, but there are many other categories.

Parentage The parent of this WikiProject is the WikiProject Biology[?].

Descendant Wikiprojects No descendant WikiProjects have been defined.

Similar Wikiprojects No similar WikiProjects have been defined.

Participants

• Guy
• Ram-Man
• D.D.
• mav
• Tiles
• Tannin (more a well-wisher than a participant as my plate is too full, but perhaps one day)

Structure There shall be a List of Conservation topics which lists the various topics on conservation. (This probably does not belong here...)

There shall be four article levels in this WikiProject:

• Level 1: An article called "Protected area" shall discuss PA's in general, as opposed to any particular PA. Since a PA is almost always associated with one country, it will provide an alphabetical list (with links) of countries that have PA's. An extra item "International Protected Areas" will be added to the list for PA's that are shared by two or more countries.
  
• Level 2: These articles shall discuss a particular country's PA's in general. It shall have an alphabetical list of PA types (such as National Park, Wildlife Sanctuary, ... / no links) which exist in that country, followed by a description. For each type (or combination of types) the existing PA's will be listed alphabetically (with links). For a PA that lies in a dependent territory of that country a mention shall be made of that territory.
  
• Level 3: In countries where all or part of the PA's are not managed on a country level the level 2 articles will contain an alphabetical list of the states/provinces/... (with links) that manage the PA's. The links to which they point shall be the level 3 articles. They shall have the same structure as the level 2 articles.
  
• Level 4: These shall be the actual PA articles.

Formatting

Formatting of the level 1 article ("Protected area")

• A general description;
• A list of countries that have PA's (with links in the "Protected areas of X" format);
• A link to the page "International protected areas".

Formatting of level 2 articles

• A general description;
• A list of PA types with a short explanation;
• A list of PA's per PA type;
• A list of states/provinces/... for PA's which are managed on that level (with links in the "Protected areas of X" format).
• A link to the level 1 article and (an) external link(s), if available.

For a test article see: Protected areas of Australia

Formatting of level 3 articles

• A general description;
• A list of PA types with a short explanation (if that explanation differs from the explanation given on country level);
• A list of PA's per PA type.
• A link to the corresponding level 2 article and (an) external link(s), if available.

For a test article see: Protected areas of the Australian Capital Territory

Formatting of level 4 articles

• A description. This should contain the PA's location ([state/province/...] (where applicable), [country name], [distance and direction from (a) major or well known city/cities]) and its main features/points of interest. If available, one or more photos can be included;
• A table containing:
  • The PA's name;
  • A map locator;
  • Its location ([state/province/...], country);
  • The nearest city;
  • The PA's area (in ha or acres);
  • Its latitude written as ddd° mm' ss" N/S (degrees - minutes - seconds);
  • Its longitude written as ddd° mm' ss" E/W (degrees - minutes - seconds);
  • The date of establishment;
  • The governing body/bodies;
  • The IUCN category;
• A link to the corresponding level 3 article and (an) external link(s), if available.

Note: depending on the IUCN category a different colour shall be used in the table.

For a test article see: Organ Pipes National Park

Hierarchy Definition No classification of Protected Areas has been defined. See this example on dividing a topic into a hierarchy.

General Subpages

• /General
• /Strategy[?]
• /Status[?]

Map Locators

• /Map Locators/Australia

Useful links [1997 United Nations List of Protected Areas (http://www.wcmc.org.uk/protected_areas/data/un_97_list)]
[National Parks Worldwide (http://hum.amu.edu.pl/~zbzw/ph/pnp/swiat.htm)]
[The World Heritage List (http://whc.unesco.org/heritage.htm)]

Note

• Disambiguation pages are probably the best solution if there are PA's of the same type and with the same name in different countries/states/provinces/...