USA

The United States of America is unique in its extraordinary diversity of life. It harbours the lush forests of the Appalachia; the frozen tundra of Alaska; the Midwest’s tall grass prairies; and Hawaii’s rainforests. More than 200,000 species are known from the USA. The nation is particularly rich in aquatic life such as, fish, turtles, salamanders, and mussels. The USA also supports a broader array of ecosystems than any other nation on Earth, home to 21 of 28 globally defined ecoregions. The USA hosts a large percentage of the world’s broadleaf forests, temperate grasslands, and Mediterranean-climate vegetation. Of the vast 9,833,520 km2 area of the USA, 12.88% of land is protected, as well as 19.16% of marine area, in the form of 34,035 protected areas. These areas come under all IUCN management categories and nearly all governance types. One important Protected Area in the USA is the California Marine Protected Area Network. This network, established in 2012, spans the state’s entire coastline and 16% of California’s jurisdictional waters, making it the largest network in North America and one of the largest in the world. The ecologically connected network comprises 124 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), of which 9% are no-take marine reserves and around 6% are marine conservation areas with limited take. The Californian Master Plan for MPAs was developed in close collaboration with the Commission, councils, consultants, tribes, NGO’s, academic institutions, the general public and more.