Designated terrestrial protected areas

In total, 28.1% of Spain’s land surface is protected in one way or the other (see graph).

Spain has 1 842 protected natural spaces, distributed across 44 different categories of protection. The national parks network (covering 4 872 km²) currently consists of 16 national parks after the declaration of the Sierra de las Nieves National Park in 2021. A total of 118 habitat types from Annex I to the Habitats Directive, 263 species from Annex II to the Habitats Directive and 125 species from Annex I to the Birds Directive are present throughout the land and marine waters of Spain.

The Natura 2000 network in Spain comprised 1 861 sites as of January 2024, covering 27.39% of Spain’s land area. It should be remembered that the data on the surface area of the Natura 2000 network do not correspond to the sum of the surface areas of sites of community importance (SCIs) and special protection areas (SPAs), as there are overlaps between the two types of sites that should not be counted twice. The Natura 2000 network in Spain currently includes 1 475 SCIs, resulting in a total surface area of 263 420 km², of which 118 829 km² is terrestrial and 144 591 km² is marine. Consequently, 23.5% of the land area and 13.4% of the Spanish jurisdictional marine waters are protected by SCIs. After the updates to the SPAs, the total number of SPAs in Spain is 658. These areas together cover a total surface area of 164 171 km², of which 102 702 km² corresponds to the terrestrial environment and 61 469 km² to the marine environment. The area covered by this type of protection in Spain amounts to 20.3% of the land area and includes 5.7% of Spain’s marine waters.

Expansion of the network of protected areas continues; for example, the Mar de las Calmas National Park is scheduled to be declared by the end of 2026. This protected area will cover some 24 822 ha entirely off the coast of the island of El Hierro (in the Canary Islands).