"There are many protected areas but still a large number of species remain unprotected," Conservation International scientist Tom Brooks told reporters at the fifth World Parks Congress in the eastern port city of Durban.

The once-a-decade event, hosted by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), started Monday and is being attended by 2,500 delegates from across the world who are debating how to safeguard the world's conserved areas in the next ten years.

The previous congress set out to establish 10 percent of the earth's land surface as protected areas, and that target has been met with more than 100,000 protected sites covering 11.5 percent of the globe.

But now for the first time a study has been conducted to count how many endangered species live in these areas, and concluded that at least 223 birds, 140 mammals and 346 amphibians which are threatened by extinction did not, and therefore do not enjoy any protection.

"The major result is that more than 1,300 birds, mammals and amphibians are completely unrepresented in protected areas," Brooks said.

"But even more dramatic, more than 700 of these are highly threatened."

The research was a joint project by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and Conservation International.

TERRA.WIRE