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| | Vth World Parks Congress, 8-17 September 2003, Durban, South Africa |
 | | The 2003 United Nations List of Protected Areas released at the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa, is the most comprehensive report ever on parks. |
 | | The report lists 102,102 sites covering an area of 18.8 million square kilometres of which 17 million square kilometres – equating to 11.5 % of the Earth’s land surface, is terrestrial. |
 | | In terms of surface covered, in 1962 - the year of the first IUCN World Parks Congress – some two million square kilometres were protected; today, over 18 million square kilometres benefit from protected area status. |
| www.iucn.org /wpc2003/english/news/daybyday/unlist.htm (1005 words) |
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