Ecozone is a classification system of the world first proposed by Miklos Udvardy under the name biogeographical realms for conservation purposes.
It defines 8 biogeographical realms with unifying features of geography, fauna and flora.
Intensive regional analyses of biodiversity patterns across five continents and biogeographical realms have been used by the World Wildlife Fund to defined the boundaries of terrestrial ecoregions for the Global 200.
The biogeographic realms are also supporting current natural World Heritage sites.