UK Overseas Territory Protected Area statistics
JNCC collates area and percent coverage statistics from the UK Overseas Territory (UKOT) Governments to demonstrate their progress in establishing Protected Areas (PAs) and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) for biodiversity conservation. These statistics inform 25 Year Environment Plan Outcome Indicator K4.
Statistics are accurate to 31 December 2024 and are presented at three spatial scales: for the UKOTs combined (Tables 1 and 2), for each Territory individually (Tables 3a and 3b), and additional statistics for a variety of within-territory scales or other breakdowns (Table 4). These statistics, and the full time series dataset (2020 to 2024), are also available in a downloadable datasheet from JNCC's Resource Hub.
JNCC Report 792 provides technical background information, including our approach to obtaining data, calculation methods and confidence in these statistics. PA extent statistics for the metropolitan UK are available in UK Biodiversity Indicator on Protected Areas. More detailed statistics on the UK marine PA network are also presented on the JNCC website.
Protected Area extent statistics for the UKOTs combined
Table 1. Extent and percent coverage of Protected Areas and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures for the UK Overseas Territories combined, as at the end of 2024.
| Area of land or sea (km2) | Area of PAs and OECMs (km2) | % coverage of PAs and OECMs | |
| Terrestrial environment | 17,741 | 4,628 | 26.1 |
| Marine environment | 5,749,254 | 4,309,275 | 75.0 |
Table 2. Net change in the extent and percent coverage of Protected Areas and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures from the end of 2020 to the end of 2024, for the UK Overseas Territories combined.
|
Change in PA and OECM extent (km2), |
Change in % coverage of PAs and OECMs, |
|
| Terrestrial environment | +3,797 | +21.4 |
| Marine environment | +687,842 | +12.0 |
The PA extent statistics include 13 UKOTs (shown in the map below). The UK Government and Mauritius reached a political agreement on 3rd October 2024 on the exercise of sovereignty over British Indian Ocean Territory/the Chagos Archipelago. Subject to a formal treaty being agreed, the UK will agree that Mauritius is sovereign over the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia. Until the Treaty is signed, ratified and then comes into force, the British Indian Ocean Territory will continue to contribute to this indicator. British Antarctic Territory is excluded as Antarctic terrestrial and marine protection is delivered through the Antarctic Treaty System.
Protected Area extent statistics by Territory
Table 3a. Extent and percent coverage of terrestrial Protected Areas and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures for each UK Overseas Territory, as at the end of 2024.
| Overseas Territory | Area of land (km2) | Area of PAs and OECMs (km2) | % coverage of PAs and OECMs | |
| Anguilla | 78.8 | 0.4 | 0.5 | |
| Bermuda | 53.6 | 2.4 | 4.4 | |
| British Indian Ocean Territory | 50.2 | 19.1 | 37.9 | |
| British Virgin Islands | 153.2 | 4.1 | 2.7 | |
| Cayman Islands | 266.8 | 30.4 | 11.4 | |
| Falkland Islands | 12,030.6 | 353.0 | 2.9 | |
| Gibraltar | 6.6 | 2.4 | 36.4 | |
| Montserrat | 102.8 | 11.2 | 10.9 | |
| Pitcairn Islands Group | 51.8 | 42.7 | 82.5 | |
| St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha | St Helena | 123.0 | 46.8 | 38.0 |
| Ascension | 96.9 | 18.9 | 19.5 | |
| Tristan da Cunha | 181.1 | 81.4 | 45.0 | |
| South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | 3,793.9 | 3,793.9 | 100.0 | |
| Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia | 254.7 | 97.1 | 38.1 | |
| Turks and Caicos Islands | 497.2 | 124.7 | 25.1 | |
Table 3b. Extent and percent coverage of marine Protected Areas and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures for each UK Overseas Territory, as at the end of 2024.
| Overseas Territory | Area of sea (km2) | Area of PAs and OECMs (km2) | % coverage of PAs and OECMs | |
| Anguilla * | 83,756 | 71 | 0.1 | |
| Bermuda | 464,826 | < 1 | < 0.01 | |
| British Indian Ocean Territory | 638,110 | 637,847 | 99.96 | |
| British Virgin Islands | 87,899 | 52 | 0.1 | |
| Cayman Islands * | 120,918 | 123 | 0.1 | |
| Falkland Islands | 455,521 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| Gibraltar | 87 | 77 | 89.1 | |
| Montserrat * | 6,771 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| Pitcairn Islands Group | 841,995 | 841,995 | 100.0 | |
| St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha | St Helena | 448,411 | 448,411 | 100.0 |
| Ascension | 445,489 | 445,489 | 100.0 | |
| Tristan da Cunha | 757,646 | 691,009 | 91.2 | |
| South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | 1,243,517 | 1,243,517 | 100.0 | |
| Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia | 397 | 32 | 8.2 | |
| Turks and Caicos Islands * | 153,911 | 651 | 0.4 | |
Statistics represent PA and OECM coverage across the entire extent of each UKOT’s waters, from the coast to the exclusive economic zone (or equivalent). Four UKOTs (Anguilla, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands; marked '*') lack formal international maritime boundaries for parts of their waters; their approximate sea areas were calculated using median lines sourced from the UK Hydrographic Office.
Within-territory marine Protected Area statistics
Table 4. Extent and percent coverage of marine Protected Areas at within-territory scales.
Protected Area policy is implemented at a range of spatial scales and involves a variety of management regimes across the UKOTs. Table 4 provides supplementary statistics on the extent and coverage of PAs and OECMs for geographic scales, management types or other breakdowns relevant to individual Territories. These have been volunteered for publication by the respective UKOT Governments. Statistics for the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands are accurate as of the end of 2024, statistics for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are accurate as of May 2025.
| UK Overseas Territory | Geographic breakdown and area of UKOT's waters | Type of PA / OECM or management | Area of marine PAs and OECMs (km2) | % coverage of PAs and OECMs |
| British Virgin Islands | Territorial Sea – 5,394 km2 | All types | 52 | 1.0 |
| Cayman Islands |
Coastal shelf (150 ft [45.7m] depth contour) – 214 km2 |
All types | 117 | 54.8 |
|
Coastal shelf (150 ft [45.7m] depth contour) – 214 km2 |
No Take Zones | 97 | 45.3 | |
| South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) |
SGSSI Maritime Zone – 1,243,517 km2 |
No Take Zones | 470,396 | 37.8 |
| Bottom fishing (all types) prohibited | 1,179,737 | 94.8 | ||
| Pelagic fishing (all types) prohibited | 501,315 | 40.3 |
Key information
- JNCC maintains a time series dataset of annual UKOT PA extent and coverage results. The whole time series is revised and republished annually to reflect the latest information and account for corrections or improvements to underlying data; these are summarised in Appendix 1 of Report 792.
- JNCC’s confidence in the aggregated PA extent statistics (Table 1) is high. However, a number of data issues introduce uncertainty, particularly for territory-level statistics (Tables 3a and 3b). These issues vary by UKOT and are described in the accompanying report.
- Management of the environment is a devolved responsibility and establishing, recognising and reporting PAs and OECMs is led by the individual UKOT Governments. Decisions on which sites and measures to report were made by the UKOT Governments alone.
- All reported PAs and OECMs were designated for an in-situ biodiversity conservation purpose and/or deliver an in-situ biodiversity conservation outcome. They are spatially defined and were formally designated or established at the time of reporting.
- JNCC collated statistics provided by the UKOT Governments, only undertaking area calculations on their behalf when requested to do so and using official sources of PA data.
- PA extent is the sum of all areas occurring within PAs and OECMs, using the latest formal site boundaries. Overlaps between sites were discounted to prevent overestimating extent.
- Percent coverages were calculated relative to the size of UKOTs’ landmasses and seas. UKOT Government coastline and land border data were used to calculate land areas. UKOT waters were measured to their outermost extents (exclusive economic zone, or equivalent) to inform percent coverages in Tables 1, 2 and 3b. UK Hydrographic Office maritime boundary (from the Marine Data Portal) were used for the majority of UKOTs. Median lines were used in the absence of formal maritime boundaries – sea areas for these Territories (as indicated in Table 3b) are approximate.
- Area calculations were undertaken using a variety of projected coordinate systems native and/or customised to the individual UKOTs (see Appendix 3 in Report 792 for details).
- Only five OECMs were reported as of the end of 2024. Together these contribute a tiny proportion (less than 0.001%) of overall marine protection across the UKOTs.
- “Terrestrial” refers to both land and inland water environments.
More information is available in JNCC Report 792, along with a datasheet of UKOT Protected Area statistics, available to download from JNCC’s Resource Hub.
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