Protected-area management categories Ia–VI, and what each means for a plot
The protected-area management categories, Ia to VI, describe how a protected area is managed — from a strict nature reserve where almost nothing is permitted to a protected area with sustainable use of natural resources. They do not by themselves say what a landowner may do; the national designation does. But they are the most widely recorded classification of protected areas, and ERWAY Legality Assessment uses them to set the restriction tier a plot receives when it overlaps one.
Category Ia is a strict nature reserve, Ib a wilderness area, II a national park, III a natural monument, IV a habitat or species management area, V a protected landscape or seascape, VI a protected area with sustainable use. In the product, categories Ia to IV and national parks are strict protection — tier 1, prohibited. Categories V and VI and other sustainable-use designations are tier 3, restricted: conversion needs a permit and is unlikely to be lawful. The protected-area screening page shows how the overlap itself is measured.
The six categories in one table
Ia strict nature reserve — tier 1, prohibited. Ib wilderness area — tier 1, prohibited. II national park — tier 1, prohibited. III natural monument or feature — tier 1, prohibited. IV habitat or species management area — tier 1, prohibited. V protected landscape or seascape — tier 3, restricted. VI protected area with sustainable use of natural resources — tier 3, restricted. The tier is printed with its reason on every finding card; the tier scale page has all six.
The unclassified case
A large share of protected-area records carry no management category. That is a fact about the record, not about the land. The product shows the class as 'unknown' and gives the plot 'Verification needed' at tier 3: a record exists, and the protection terms must be confirmed with the authority. It never reads a missing class as 'unprotected', because the most common reason a class is missing is that nobody entered it.
Next step
A tier 1 finding on a candidate site ends the candidacy; a tier 3 finding starts a permit question. In both cases the finding card names the area, the category, the overlap in hectares and the share of the plot, and the export carries them to whoever decides next. For mining and quarrying, where the World Heritage no-go commitment sits alongside the national categories, see mining and protected areas.