Designation
Designation metadata documents the legal, institutional, and social status of an area — whether it is proposed, under review, partly recognized, or fully established — and ties each area to the legal instrument behind it.
Where Core metadata defines what an area is, Designation metadata records where it stands in its recognition process.
Fields
| Field | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
designation_status | Stage of recognition, from a controlled vocabulary (see below) | Partly formalized |
designation_year | Year the designation became effective | 1999 |
designation_authority | Body that issued the designation | Ministerio del Ambiente |
designation_instrument | Legal or institutional instrument supporting designation | Decreto Ejecutivo No. 123 |
designation_history | Reference to the historical designation process | External record |
designation_conflict | Whether designation is contested or overlapping | Overlapping claim with neighboring resguardo |
designation_notes | Additional context or explanation | Boundary expansion in 2015 |
designation_year and designation_history are managed through the designation timeline editor rather than as standalone inputs. designation_instrument replaces the earlier designation_source field, which is still read as a legacy key.Status Vocabulary
Rather than asking each country to map its own categories onto a number, the Atlas records status as a controlled vocabulary and derives a standardized 1–5 progression scale from it. That scale is what makes designation comparable across legal systems.
| Scale | Status | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | No process | No formal designation, recognition, titling, demarcation, registration, or official proposal process has been identified. |
| 2 | Proposed | A formal request, claim, application, proposal, or demand has been submitted or documented, but has not substantially advanced. |
| 3 | In process | The area is undergoing technical studies, legal or administrative review, consultation, objection, validation, or another formal process step. |
| 4 | Partly formalized | The area has some official recognition, declaration, demarcation, boundary approval, or provisional status, but the process is not fully complete. |
| 5 | Formalized | The main legal act of designation, recognition, establishment, titling, homologation, or registration has been completed. |
| — | Unknown | Available information is insufficient, unclear, or not reported by the data provider. |
Role
Designation metadata is what lets the Atlas treat areas as processes rather than fixed categories. It does so in four ways.
Tracking Change
Because status is recorded over time, areas can be followed as they move from proposal to recognition, and expansions, upgrades, or legal changes become visible. Trajectories can then be compared across regions.
Comparability
The derived 1–5 scale gives a common reference across very different legal systems, which is what makes cross-country comparison and regional aggregation possible at all.
Indicators
It feeds analysis of designation progress, conservation coverage over time, and the relationship between designation and stewardship.
Publication
Status also helps govern visibility. Early-stage areas (scale 1–2) are treated as draft or restricted, while areas at scale 3–5 become eligible for publication — so areas still in process are not exposed prematurely.
Legal Context
The designation_instrument and designation_authority fields together record the legal or institutional basis for an area. That might be a national law or decree, a ministerial resolution, an international recognition such as Ramsar, or a community or organizational agreement. Recording both supports verification, traceability, and linkage to official records.
Conflict and Overlap
The designation_conflict field captures overlapping claims, contested boundaries, and conflicting designations. It matters most in exactly the places where the data is hardest to pin down: regions where governance systems intersect or where recognition is incomplete.
Time
Three fields give designation its temporal dimension: designation_year marks when recognition took effect, designation_history records how status has changed, and designation_status reflects the current stage. Together they let an area be read as an evolving system rather than a single dated record.
In Practice
Designation metadata is updated as legal or institutional status changes, validated against official or recognized sources, and used to track both progress and uncertainty. Because designation is dynamic, these fields carry much of the change visible across the Atlas over time.
Example
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| designation_status | Partly formalized (scale 4) |
| designation_authority | Ministerio del Ambiente |
| designation_instrument | Ley No. XXXX |
| designation_year | 2003 |
| designation_conflict | — |
| designation_notes | Expanded in 2018 |