According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are more than 102,102 protected areas covering 12.6% of the world's land area. Protected areas total over 18.8 million square kilometres - that's larger than the combined area of China and India!

Alberta has strong ties to the global network of protected areas. We have internationally significant sites recognized through designations like

• World Heritage sites
• Biosphere Reserves
• Ramsar Convention on Wetlands sites
• Twinning iniatives
  • Hay-Zama Lakes Wildland Park is "twinned" with Dalai Lake National Nature Reserve in Inner Mongolia, China.

Alberta's parks system is part of the family of parks in Canada.

• National parks
• National wildlife areas
• Canadian Heritage Rivers
• Canada's Important Bird Areas
• Provincial and territorial parks and protected areas (Canadian Council on Ecological Areas - Conservation Areas Reporting and Tracking System)
• Interprovincial parks (Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, Kakwa-Willmore Interprovincial Park)
• Regional and municipal parks
• Lands under private stewardship (i.e. conservation easements, land trusts). Check the Alberta Land Trust Alliance for more info.

Different names, designations and rules sometimes make it unclear how parks around the world fit. The International Union for Conservation of Nature system enables comparisons to be made by categorizing protected areas with similar purposes, objectives and uses globally regardless of the legislated classification system.