Green List Functionality

February 3, 2026 · View on GitHub

Overview

The IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas is a global standard for protected areas. The Protected Planet application supports importing and displaying green list data for both protected areas and their parcels. Green list status can be set on the PA record and/or on individual parcels.

Current Implementation

Parcel-aware behaviour: The PA and each parcel have their own green_list_status_id. A PA is considered green-listed for search/display if the PA record is green-listed or any of its parcels is green-listed. The application does not require all parcels to inherit the PA’s status; parcel-level status is supported.

Search / indexing: The special_status field used for filtering (e.g. “Green Listed”) is derived from pa_or_any_its_parcels_is_greenlisted and pa_or_any_its_parcels_is_greenlist_candidate on ProtectedArea, so a PA appears in Green List filters when it or any of its parcels is green-listed.

Data Model

Tables

  • green_list_statuses – Status definitions (e.g. gl_status, gl_expiry, gl_link)
  • protected_areas – green_list_status_id (optional), plus other PA attributes
  • protected_area_parcels – green_list_status_id (optional) per parcel

Relationships

  • ProtectedArea belongs_to GreenListStatus (optional)
  • ProtectedAreaParcel belongs_to GreenListStatus (optional)

Scopes and queries

ProtectedArea

  • pas_with_green_list_on_self_only – PAs whose own record has a green list status (ignores parcels). Returns PA records.
  • pas_with_green_list_on_self_or_any_parcel – PAs that are green-listed on the PA record or on any parcel. Returns PA records (not parcels); use .protected_area_parcels on each PA to get parcels.

Instance methods (for search/indexing)

  • pa_or_any_its_parcels_is_greenlisted – true if the PA or any of its parcels is Green Listed / Relisted.
  • pa_or_any_its_parcels_is_greenlist_candidate – true if the PA or any of its parcels is a Candidate.

Parcels

  • Parcels with a green list status: ProtectedAreaParcel.where.not(green_list_status_id: nil) or join through green_list_status.

Import Process

Data sources

Green list data is sourced from the portal materialised view, not from CSV files. The view is created and refreshed as part of the portal release (e.g. via FDW_VIEWS.sql).

Importers

  • Portal importer: Wdpa::Portal::Importers::GreenList – reads from the green list materialised view via Wdpa::Portal::Adapters::Greenlist and imports into staging tables (staging_protected_areas, staging_protected_area_parcels, staging_green_list_statuses).

Import logic resolves each view row to a PA or parcel (by site_id / site_pid) and sets green_list_status_id on the corresponding record. The data model supports parcel-specific status when the view contains parcel-level rows.

Usage

Import

# Portal importer (staging)
Wdpa::Portal::Importers::GreenList.import_to_staging(notifier: notifier)

Query examples

# PAs green-listed on the PA record only (no parcel logic)
ProtectedArea.pas_with_green_list_on_self_only

# PAs green-listed on the PA and/or on any parcel (returns PAs, not parcels)
ProtectedArea.pas_with_green_list_on_self_or_any_parcel

# Parcels that have a green list status
ProtectedAreaParcel.where.not(green_list_status_id: nil)
# Or with join:
ProtectedAreaParcel.joins(:green_list_status)

Downloads

The general download worker uses green list to build the set of areas for the “greenlist” download type. It currently uses ProtectedArea.pas_with_green_list_on_self_only to collect site_ids.