The Canopy Global 1000 ranks the world’s land protected areas by conservation value: how irreplaceable the species they hold are, how connected they are to other protected land, and how intact they are, weighted by size. Plant data is being added, so every area carries two ranks, without and with plants, and neither is the final word. Canopy publishes a page for each area in the top 500 on both.
A rank says how important an area is, not how well it is run. That is what PACE measures, and most of these areas have no PACE score yet.
40 areas in 11 countries. These are the African areas beyond the 200 Canopy scores on PACE; each country page lists them.
| Country | Areas | Highest ranked, without / with plants |
|---|---|---|
| Botswana | 1 | Okavango Delta System 219 / 414 |
| Cameroon | 1 | Korup 473 / 355 |
| Central African Republic | 3 | Sangha Trinational 153 / 184 |
| Democratic Republic of Congo | 3 | Ngiri 74 / 163 |
| Gabon | 4 | Domaine de chasse de Ngove-Ndogo 193 / 177 |
| Madagascar | 16 | Rainforests of the Atsinanana 1 / 2 |
| Mozambique | 1 | Zambezi Delta 243 / 315 |
| Namibia | 4 | Tsau // Khaeb (Sperrgebiet) 275 / 102 |
| Republic of Congo | 3 | Sangha-Nouabalé-Ndoki 96 / 128 |
| South Africa | 1 | Cape Floral Region Protected Areas 36 / 1 |
| Tanzania | 3 | Malagarasi-Muyovozi Wetlands 399 / 165 |
111 areas in 15 countries.
| Country | Areas | Highest ranked, without / with plants |
|---|---|---|
| Bhutan | 4 | Royal Manas National Park 97 / 254 |
| Brunei | 1 | Ulu Temburong 201 / 250 |
| Cambodia | 18 | NorthEast Corridor 10 / 61 |
| China | 2 | Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas 52 / 91 |
| India | 1 | Western Ghats 8 / 65 |
| Indonesia | 20 | Kayan Mentarang 3 / 19 |
| Laos | 15 | Nakai-Nam Teun 13 / 69 |
| Malaysia | 13 | Lanjak Entimau 48 / 98 |
| Mongolia | 3 | Uvs Nuur Basin 89 / 287 |
| Myanmar | 6 | Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary (extension) 12 / 66 |
| Nepal | 3 | Chitwan National Park 80 / 231 |
| Russia | 2 | Golden Mountains of Altai 136 / 343 |
| Sri Lanka | 2 | Central Highlands of Sri Lanka 63 / 172 |
| Thailand | 15 | Thungyai-Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuaries 25 / 94 |
| Vietnam | 6 | Song Thanh 167 / 305 |
184 areas in 13 countries.
| Country | Areas | Highest ranked, without / with plants |
|---|---|---|
| Bolivia | 7 | Madidi 11 / 20 |
| Brazil | 108 | Rio Negro 16 / 22 |
| Colombia | 7 | La Serranía de Chiribiquete 140 / 23 |
| Costa Rica | 3 | Talamanca Range-La Amistad Reserves / La Amistad National Park 15 / 45 |
| Dominican Republic | 2 | Sierra de Bahoruco 113 / 169 |
| Ecuador | 12 | Sangay 19 / 4 |
| French Guiana | 3 | Guyane (Parc Amazonien) 281 / 161 |
| Honduras | 1 | Río Plátano 238 / 283 |
| Mexico | 3 | Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California 31 / 59 |
| Panama | 4 | Darién 50 / 82 |
| Paraguay | 1 | Reserva de la Biosfera del Chaco 217 / 131 |
| Peru | 15 | del Manu 23 / 36 |
| Venezuela | 18 | Canaima National Park 9 / 12 |
2 areas in 2 countries.
| Country | Areas | Highest ranked, without / with plants |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | 1 | Kluane / Wrangell-St Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek 143 / 378 |
| United States | 1 | Wrangell-Saint Elias 156 / 389 |
34 areas in 2 countries.
| Country | Areas | Highest ranked, without / with plants |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 31 | Gondwana Rainforests of Australia 21 / 21 |
| New Zealand | 3 | Te Wahipounamu - South West New Zealand 17 / 96 |
If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us. Every correction is reviewed.
Everything here is free to use. The one condition is attribution.
Canopy (2026). The Canopy Global 1000. Canopy Conservation, cg1k-22ffffd. Retrieved from https://canopyconservation.com/global
https://canopyconservation.com/global
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Reuse, redistribute and build on this, commercially or not, as long as Canopy is credited and the licence is named.