Table 1. Extents of the 24 wilderness areas, their human populations, and their levels of protection.
|
Population†
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biome and wilderness | Area,* km2 | Intact,* % | Total | Minus urban | People per km2† | Protected areas,‡ % |
| Tropical humid forest | ||||||
| Amazonia | 6,683,926 | 80 | 21,430,115 | 7,355,126 | 1.1 | 8.3 |
| Congo forest | 1,725,221 | 70 | 16,000,000 | 10,000,000 | 5.8 | 8.1 |
| New Guinea | 828,818 | 70 | 6,000,000 | 4,197,200 | 5.1 | 11 |
| Tropical dry forests and grasslands | ||||||
| Chaco | 996,600 | 70 | 2,810,000 | 648,693 | 0.65 | 7.5 |
| Miombo-Mopane | 1,176,000 | 90 | 5,839,000 | 3,816,000 | 3.2 | 36 |
| Australian savannas | 585,239 | 100 | 60,730 | 24,188 | 0.041 | 11 |
| Mixed mountain, temperate rain, and temperate needleleaf forest | ||||||
| Rocky Mountains | 570,500 | 70 | 1,574,986 | 1,035,174 | 1.8 | 17 |
| Pacific Northwest | 315,000 | 80 | 770,000 | 597,095 | 1.9 | 48 |
| Magellanic forests | 147,200 | 100 | 253,264 | 34,501 | 0.23 | 72 |
| Tasmanian WHWA | 13,836 | 90 | 8 | 8 | 0.000058 | 100 |
| Boreal forests | 16,179,500 | 80 | 30,337,925 | 15,438,546 | 0.95 | 3.8 |
| Wetland | ||||||
| Llanos | 451,474 | 80 | 4,444,243 | 1,065,956 | 2.4 | 15 |
| Pantanal | 210,000 | 80 | 1,125,200 | 81,200 | 0.38 | 2.7 |
| Bañados del Este | 38,500 | 80 | 200,000 | 40,000 | 1.0 | 2.8 |
| Sundarbans | 10,000 | 80 | 3,000 | 3,000 | 0.30 | 31 |
| Warm and cold-winter deserts | ||||||
| North American deserts | 1,416,134 | 80 | 15,348,342 | 4,509,403 | 3.2 | 23 |
| Patagonia | 550,400 | 70 | 800,000 | 200,000 | 0.36 | 4.1 |
| Sahara | 7,780,544 | 90 | 35,187,620 | 10,273,595 | 1.3 | 2.8 |
| Kalahari-Namib | 714,700 | 80 | 1,422,700 | 425,900 | 0.60 | 25 |
| Arabian deserts | 3,250,000 | 90 | 47,000,000 | 15,000,000 | 4.6 | 8.3 |
| Central Asian deserts | 5,943,000 | 80 | 9,000,000 | 5,500,000 | 0.93 | 2.8 |
| Australian deserts | 3,572,209 | 90 | 400,000 | 285,000 | 0.080 | 9.4 |
| Tundra | ||||||
| Arctic tundra | 8,850,000 | 90 | 4,288,613 | 2,385,713 | 0.27 | 20 |
| Antarctic | 13,900,000 | 100 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 0.000072 | 0.025 |
| Total | 75,908,801 | 90 | 204,296,746 | 82,917,298 | 1.1 | 7.5 |
WHWA, World Heritage Wilderness Area.
*
Area of each of wilderness area and percentage intactness (one significant figure). Areas must exceed 10,000 km2 and 70% intactness to qualify as wildernesses.
†
Human population, human population outside of urban areas, and human population density (two significant figures) of each wilderness area.
‡
Percentage (two significant figures) of each wilderness area under protected area status (IUCN categories I-IV).