Natural World Heritage Sites are globally recognized as the world’s most important natural areas based on criteria that include scale of natural habitats, intactness of ecological processes, viability of populations of rare species, and rarity, notwithstanding aesthetic appeal which almost always accompany these natural wonders.
Natural or mixed heritage (cultural areas including natural values) sites total 217 and protect more than 266 million hectares of land and sea or around 10% of globally protected areas.
The average area of a natural World Heritage Site is c. 1,263,100 ha. Excluding the very large Phoenix Islands Protected Areas, Papahānaumokuākea and Great Barrier Reef, the average size is c. 727,000 ha.
