pywdpa Python package

Overview

The pywdpa Python package is an interface to the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) hosted on the Protected Planet website at https://www.protectedplanet.net. The pywdpa package provides functions to download shapefiles of protected areas (PA) for any countries with an iso3 code using the WDPA API at https://api.protectedplanet.net. The pywdpa package translates some functions of the R package worldpa (https://github.com/FRBCesab/worldpa) in the Python language.

Terms and conditions

You must ensure that the following citation is always clearly reproduced in any publication or analysis involving the Protected Planet Materials in any derived form or format:

UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (YEAR) Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN. Available at: www.protectedplanet.net (dataset downloaded the YEAR/MONTH).

For further details on terms and conditions of the WDPA usage, please visit the page: https://www.protectedplanet.net/c/terms-and-conditions.

Prerequisites

This package uses the WDPA API to access data on world protected areas. You must first have obtained a Personal API Token by filling in the form available at https://api.protectedplanet.net/request. Then set an environment variable (we recommend using the name WDPA_KEY) using either the command os.environ["WDPA_KEY"]="your_token" or python-dotenv.

Installation

The easiest way to install the pywdpa Python package is via pip:

~$ python -m pip install https://github.com/ghislainv/pywdpa/archive/master.zip

but you can also install it executing the setup.py file:

~$ git clone https://github.com/ghislainv/pywdpa
~$ cd pywdpa
~/pywdpa$ python setup.py install