Spain

Although Spain contains 50% of Europe's total biological resources, according to a study in the Conservación Biológica magazine, protected maritime and terrestrial land is scarce. Approximately, only 3% of Spanish marine space is minimally protected.[6]​ One of the causes of the limited variety of protected spaces in Spanish territory is the privatization of land.

In the current country Spain, a distinction is made between a natural park and a national park. Contrary to what is usually thought, the categories of protected natural spaces in Spain (Law 4/1989) are not based on higher or lower levels of protection, so the national park is not the figure with the highest protection. It is based on its functions and characteristics which are:.

The largest protected area in Spain and also a natural park is the natural park of the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas in the province of Jaén "Province of Jaén (Spain)"), where the Guadalquivir River is born. 9.1% of the surface of Spain is protected, with the Canary Islands being the autonomous community with the largest relative protected area with 42%, followed by Catalonia with 21.51% and Andalusia with 18.92%, however it is the Andalusian community that contributes the most to the total with 36% of the Spanish total.[7]​.

Argentina

In Argentina there are 533 protected areas[8]​ registered as part of the Federal System of Protected Areas (SiFAP).[9]​ The continental protected areas, which also include coastal-marine areas, not strictly marine, cover an area of ​​40,185,345 hectares. They represent 14.45% of the continental national territory.[10]​.

There are 57 protected areas of national jurisdiction under the National Parks Administration and 476 protected areas recognized by the provinces under some category of provincial, municipal, university, private or mixed management, with provincial or municipal regulatory support.

Among the 57 national protected areas there are 3 marine protected areas: Namuncurá-Banco Burwood, Banco Burwood II and Yaganes, created within the framework of the National System of Marine Protected Areas[11]​ (SNAMP) established by Law No. 27037.

Some protected areas have international designation: 15 biosphere reserves (Man and the Biosphere Program, MaB-UNESCO), 23 Ramsar sites (wetlands of international importance), 5 natural world heritage properties[12] - UNESCO (Los Glaciares National Park, Iguazú National Park, Valdés Peninsula, Los Alerces National Park and the Ischigualasto Provincial Park - Talampaya National Park complex) and 3 world cultural heritage assets – UNESCO[13]​ (Cueva de las Manos -Río Pinturas, Quebrada de Humahuaca and the Andean Road System –Qhapaq Ñan– Tahuantinsuyo road network).