Total Management Cost

Quantifies the cost of properly managing a country’s protected area network relative to its overall economic output. A higher score in this metric, indicating a lower proportion of a country’s gross national income required to manage its protected areas, reflects greater efficiency of conservation management. Costly protected areas are more likely to be “paper reserves”, protected in name but under-resourced to enforce policy and mitigate threats.

Investing resources into conservation indicates a significant commitment to environmental stewardship, signifying substantial investment in activities such as habitat restoration, pollution control, and biodiversity conservation. This investment is crucial for long-term ecological health and sustainability, which can also contribute to economic stability through tourism, improved agricultural practices, and disaster resilience. On the other hand inadequate funding for environmental management could potentially lead to degraded ecosystems and a loss of biodiversity, which could impose long-term costs on the economy and public well-being.

The higher the score, the better the country ranks for this parameter.

The table is sorted from the highest score to the lowest:

Rank	Country	Score	Change
1	Bangladesh	100	None
2	Barbados	100	None
3	Burundi	100	None
4	Cape Verde	100	None
5	China	100	None
6	Colombia	100	None
7	Djibouti	100	None
8	India	100	None
9	Indonesia	100	None
10	Iran	100	None
11	Iraq	100	None
12	Japan	100	None
13	Lebanon	100	None
14	Mauritania	100	None
15	Mauritius	100	None
16	Myanmar	100	None
17	Paraguay	100	None
18	Rwanda	100	None
19	Singapore	100	None
20	Solomon Islands	100	None
21	South Korea	100	None
22	Sudan	100	None
23	Tonga	100	None
24	Turkey	100	None
25	Uganda	100	None
26	Uzbekistan	100	None
27	Vanuatu	100	None
28	Vietnam	100	None
29	Antigua and Barbuda	99	None
30	Argentina	99	None
31	Cameroon	99	None
32	Chile	99	None
33	Congo	99	None
34	Comoros	99	None
35	DR Congo	99	None
36	Denmark	99	None
37	Equatorial Guinea	99	None
38	Gambia	99	None
39	Guinea	99	None
40	Haiti	99	None
41	Hungary	99	None
42	Ivory Coast	99	None
43	Jamaica	99	None
44	Kazakhstan	99	None
45	Laos	99	None
46	Madagascar	99	None
47	Nigeria	99	None
48	Philippines	99	None
49	Qatar	99	None
50	Senegal	99	None
51	Serbia	99	None
52	Seychelles	99	None
53	Togo	99	None
54	Uruguay	99	None
55	Albania	98	None
56	Algeria	98	None
57	Angola	98	None
58	Armenia	98	None
59	Cambodia	98	None
60	Costa Rica	98	None
61	Czech republic	98	None
62	Dominican Republic	98	None
63	Gabon	98	None
64	Guinea-Bissau	98	None
65	Guyana	98	None
66	Iceland	98	None
67	Israel	98	None
68	Kyrgyztan	98	None
69	Malawi	98	None
70	Pakistan	98	None
71	Sri Lanka	98	None
72	Switzerland	98	None
73	Turkmenistan	98	None
74	Zimbabwe	98	None
75	Belgium	97	None
76	Benin	97	None
77	Burkina Faso	97	None
78	Fiji	97	None
79	Mali	97	None
80	Mongolia	97	None
81	North Macedonia	97	None
82	Malta	97	None
83	Mexico	97	None
84	Moldova	97	None
85	Netherlands	97	None
86	Norway	97	None
87	Sweden	97	None
88	Tanzania	97	None
89	Kenya	96	None
90	Russia	96	None
91	South Africa	96	None
92	Suriname	96	None
93	Trinidad and Tobago	96	None
94	Ukraine	96	None
95	United Arab Emirates	96	None
96	Chad	95	None
97	Ireland	95	None
98	Nepal	95	None
99	Papua New Guinea	95	None
100	Saint Lucia	95	None
101	United States	95	None
102	Bosnia and Herz.	94	None
103	Grenada	94	None
104	Niger	94	None
105	United Kingdom	94	None
106	Central Af. Rep.	93	None
107	Cuba	93	None
108	Egypt	93	None
109	Malaysia	93	None
110	Samoa	93	None
111	Afghanistan	92	None
112	Azerbaijan	92	None
113	Bahamas	92	None
114	Germany	92	None
115	Italy	92	None
116	Brunei	90	None
117	Eswatini	90	None
118	Honduras	90	None
119	Kuwait	90	None
120	France	89	None
121	Ghana	89	None
122	Guatemala	89	None
123	Luxembourg	89	None
124	Romania	89	None
125	Tunisia	89	None
126	Austria	88	None
127	El Salvador	88	None
128	Finland	88	None
129	Georgia	88	None
130	Sierra Leone	88	None
131	Jordan	87	None
132	Morocco	87	None
133	Poland	87	None
134	Portugal	87	None
135	Dominica	86	None
136	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	86	None
137	Saudi Arabia	86	None
138	Latvia	84	None
139	New Zealand	84	None
140	Brazil	83	None
141	Canada	83	None
142	Spain	83	None
143	Belarus	82	None
144	Lesotho	82	None
145	Lithuania	82	None
146	Peru	82	None
147	Estonia	81	None
148	Nicaragua	81	None
149	Cyprus	80	None
150	East Timor	80	None
151	Australia	79	None
152	Eritrea	79	None
153	Greece	78	None
154	Montenegro	77	None
155	Mozambique	77	None
156	Bhutan	76	None
157	Slovakia	75	None
158	Slovenia	75	None
159	Bolivia	74	None
160	Panama	70	None
161	Tajikistan	69	None
162	Venezuela	68	None
163	Bulgaria	66	None
164	Ecuador	64	None
165	Croatia	62	None
166	Botswana	56	None
167	Zambia	51	None
168	Oman	47	None
169	Liberia	45	None
170	Belize	39	None
171	Namibia	31	None

Source and Calculation

Protected Area shapefiles are sourced from the World Database on Protected Areas through Protected Planet. Latest values of each country’s gross national income and purchasing power parity are sourced from the World Bank Group. The management cost in USD per km protected area is calculated for each country using the Balmford-Moore equation, multiplied by each country’s total protected area and then divided by the country’s gross national income to calculate the proportion of gross national income required to manage each country’s protected area network. A minimum score is given to a country that needs to invest 3% or more of its gross national income to manage its protected areas.

*Different sources offer varying data, as datasets may be subject to changes due to recent updates and revisions.

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Habitat

Total Management Cost

Source and Calculation

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Total Management Cost

Source and Calculation

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