Improve data quality for protected land areas (WDPA / protectedplanet.net)

[euronion]

We currently use the WDPA dataset from protectedplanet.net for determining areas non-eligible for RES built-out.

For some countries the data quality is good or ok (you can check data quality indicators on their website per country and region). For others the data quality is not good. Some countries are reporting their protected areas, but they are published with the public datasets (according to the documentation: China, the Russian Federation, Estonia, and Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. See chapter 5.1 of the documentation linked below).

A major short-fall of the dataset is that it contains two layers of data:

• polynoms: Protected or OECM areas with a reported geographic extent and shape
• points: Protected or OECM areas reported without a geographic extent or shape

As a first step inclusion of the latter would be a significant improvement. Especially Niger reports ~270 000 km^2 of area as point data (unclear how much overlap between the point and polygon data exists for Niger).

Three figures to illustrate which countries are most affected in the current (Jan 2022) version:

In terms of total reported areas as points Ukraine, Russia and Sweden are leading.

Not all points are reported with a relevant (above 1km^2) area ("REP_AREA"), Brazil, Ukraine and Russia are leading in that regard. But also some African countries in the Top 10.

This is probably the most relevant plot: The total area reported as "points" without shape per country. For Niger (NER) the area is 282 000 km^2.

Data reported as points may be included with a heuristic where a circular area around the reported point with the appropriate area is drawn and exlucded. The reported point can be thought of as the center of the protected area (but is not guaranteed to be so). More information on this can be found in section 5 of the documentation.

Further possible improvements:

• Use national databases for those regions in addition to WDPA

[pz-max]

Thanks for the great issue reporting. Looking forward to someone contributing to this improvement :+1:

[euronion]

Small correction: The country affected was supposed to be "Niger" not "Nigeria" ("NER" ISO-3166 country code).