Endangered species of Korea / Protected-area map
Who lives in the protected areas near you?
Korea's protected areas cover 18.0% of the land, yet they cover the places its statutory endangered taxa live about as much as random placement would (18.5% against 18.4% expected). Find your province on the map and see how much is protected and how many records fall inside.
- Land in protected areas
- 18.0%national parks alone 4.1%
- Protected share where the typical taxon lives
- 18.5%random placement 18.4%
- Taxa short of the 30% target
- 121/152of the taxa that could be judged
- Records inside national parks (typical taxon)
- 0.3%
- none
- 0%–10%
- 10%–25%
- 25%–50%
- 50% or more
- 1
- 2–4
- 5–9
- 10–19
- 20 or more
Compare the two maps: dark green squares (much protected land) and dark orange squares (many taxa recorded) do not always coincide. Each square is 10 km across; no species name or exact location is shown.
By province
Compare 'land protected' with 'records inside'. A higher record share means records cluster in protected areas, which may also reflect where people go to look.
| Province | Land protected | Protected areas | Main kinds | National parks | Listed taxa recorded | Taxa with a record inside | Records inside |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gangwon | 26.0% | 214 | Water Source Protection Area 55 · Natural Monument 53 · Wildlife Protection Area 32 · Scenic Site 28 · other 46 | Chiaksan, Odaesan, Seoraksan, Sobaeksan, Taebaeksan | 131 | 86 | 34.0%9,372 of 27,567 |
| Seoul | 11.1% | 42 | Ecosystem and Landscape Conservation Area 13 · Natural Monument 12 · Wildlife Protection Area 11 · Scenic Site 3 · other 3 | Bukhansan | 74 | 34 | 7.3%224 of 3,077 |
| Gyeonggi | 26.2% | 165 | Wildlife Protection Area 51 · Natural Monument 32 · Special Island 28 · Water Source Protection Area 15 · other 39 | Bukhansan | 122 | 84 | 20.4%3,822 of 18,721 |
| Incheon | 5.4% | 12 | Natural Monument 3 · Special Island 2 · Wildlife Protection Area 2 · Wetland Protected Area - Tidal Flat 2 · other 3 | none | 47 | 12 | 1.0%26 of 2,705 |
| North Chungcheong | 24.8% | 81 | Natural Monument 25 · Wildlife Protection Area 14 · Water Source Protection Area 13 · Scenic Site 12 · other 17 | Sobaeksan, Songnisan, Woraksan | 101 | 47 | 21.4%571 of 2,669 |
| Sejong | 2.2% | 4 | Scenic Site 1 · Wildlife Protection Area 1 · Catchment Reserve Protection Area 1 · Natural Monument 1 | none | 48 | 5 | 0.8%7 of 938 |
| South Chungcheong | 6.0% | 124 | Wildlife Protection Area 44 · Special Island 35 · Natural Monument 15 · Water Source Protection Area 6 · other 24 | Gyeryongsan, Taeanhaean | 99 | 48 | 6.8%554 of 8,199 |
| Daejeon | 8.0% | 11 | Wildlife Protection Area 4 · Wetland Protected Area 2 · Water Source Protection Area 2 · Urban Natural Park Areas 1 · other 2 | none | 45 | 18 | 23.6%124 of 526 |
| North Gyeongsang | 11.0% | 257 | Water Source Protection Area 75 · Natural Monument 68 · Wildlife Protection Area 59 · Scenic Site 18 · other 37 | Gayasan, Gyeongju, Juwangsan, Palgongsan, Sobaeksan, Songnisan, Woraksan | 95 | 51 | 14.7%921 of 6,253 |
| Daegu | 12.9% | 12 | Wildlife Protection Area 4 · Water Source Protection Area 3 · Wetland Protected Area 1 · Natural Monument 1 · other 3 | Palgongsan | 28 | 14 | 21.6%29 of 134 |
| Jeonbuk | 17.3% | 150 | Wildlife Protection Area 50 · Natural Monument 33 · Special Island 15 · Scenic Site 14 · other 38 | Byeonsanbando, Deogyusan, Jirisan, Naejangsan | 106 | 66 | 14.1%792 of 5,601 |
| Ulsan | 13.8% | 23 | Wildlife Protection Area 7 · Water Source Protection Area 3 · Natural Monument 2 · Wetland of International Importance (Ramsar Site) 1 · other 10 | none | 34 | 16 | 11.2%54 of 482 |
| South Gyeongsang | 14.2% | 292 | Wildlife Protection Area 80 · Special Island 60 · Natural Monument 47 · Water Source Protection Area 40 · other 65 | Gayasan, Geumjeongsan, Hallyeohaesang, Jirisan | 100 | 70 | 26.9%2,629 of 9,757 |
| Gwangju | 6.9% | 4 | Wildlife Protection Area 2 · National Park 1 · Scenic Site 1 | Mudeungsan | 11 | 4 | 4.9%5 of 102 |
| Busan | 19.5% | 14 | Natural Monument 5 · Scenic Site 2 · Special Island 2 · Marine Protected Area 2 · other 3 | Geumjeongsan | 40 | 24 | 30.3%129 of 425 |
| South Jeolla | 19.4% | 395 | Special Island 117 · Water Source Protection Area 70 · Natural Monument 63 · Wildlife Protection Area 53 · other 92 | Dadohaehaesang, Hallyeohaesang, Jirisan, Mudeungsan, Naejangsan, Wolchulsan | 103 | 69 | 11.7%3,855 of 33,040 |
| Jeju | 12.6% | 86 | Natural Monument 40 · Water Source Protection Area 10 · Scenic Site 9 · Nature Reserve 5 · other 22 | Hallasan | 99 | 50 | 16.8%721 of 4,294 |
| Sea, outside province lines | Protected areas at sea are counted in the nearest province. | 140 | 108 | 27.3%14,438 of 52,835 | |||
Why 'about chance level'?
Protected areas cover 18.0% of Korea's land. A 'pretend taxon' placed anywhere on land would have, on average, 18.4% of its cells protected. For the 152 statutory taxa that could be judged, the median was 18.5%, almost the same as random placement; 76 scored above it and the rest below. Protected areas neither concentrate on nor avoid the places these taxa live.
So, the paper argues, enlarging protected area to 30% without targeting these taxa would not bring most of them to 30%. The clearest gap is freshwater fish: 8 of the 17 taxa below 17% under every reading were river fishes, because a river channel lies inside a protected area only where the area happens to include it.
Counting national parks only changes the picture again: the typical taxon had 0.3% of its records inside them, and most coverage came from designations such as wildlife protection areas, natural monuments and water-source protection areas. A designation is not evidence of management for these taxa.
Data and limits
- Protected areas: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (2026), Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM) [Online], September 2026, Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN. Available at: www.protectedplanet.net. Same selection as paper 14 (1,770 sites). Under the WDPA terms the boundaries are not republished; only shares and counts per cell and province are shown.
- Records: 177,325 GBIF records of the 282 statutory taxa (fetched 2026-09-27), classified by paper 14 as inside, unsure or outside. Records cluster where people look; they are not full ranges.
- Province lines: Natural Earth 1:10m (public domain), simplified, so they can differ slightly from the real lines near borders. The per-province counts were recomputed by this site from paper 14's data and are not numbers printed in the paper. A protected area is counted in every province holding a meaningful part of it, so province totals exceed the national total.
- Sensitive data: exact locations of endangered taxa are not published. The maps show 10-km cells and the table province totals only.
Study 14 figuresClassroom activity sheet (with teacher's key)All 282 endangered species