National park

National park "Sviati Hory" (Holy Mountains), Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine

Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Los Cardones National Park, Argentina

Landsat 7 image of Kavir National Park, Iran.

Teide National Park, Spain

Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, Japan

A national park is a park or an area of land officially recognized and protected by a nation's government.^[1] National parks are often made to protect the animals that live inside them or the land itself. There are many National Parks in the world.

The first one established (in 1872) was the United States Yellowstone National Park. It was the first national park in the world.^[2] But the idea of protecting areas from human development was proposed years earlier. American painter George Catlin offered the idea during the 1830s.^[2]

An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and its World Commission on Protected Areas, has defined National Parks as its category II type of protected areas. The largest national park in the world meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park, which was established in 1974. According to the IUCN, there are about 7000 national parks worldwide (2010 figure).^[3]

Definitions

In 1969 the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) declared a national park to be a relatively large area with:^[4]

with one or more ecosystems (or ecological system) not much altered by humans. It should have plant and animal species, geology sites and habitats. These should be of special scientific, educative and recreative interest, or contain a natural landscape of great beauty.
the country has taken steps to prevent or eliminate exploitation or occupation in the area. They must enforce respect for its ecological, geomorphological or aesthetic features.
visitors are allowed to enter, under special conditions, for inspirational, educative, cultural and recreative purposes.
a minimum size of 1,000 hectares within zones where nature is protected
statutory (or legal) protection
a budget and staff to provide sufficient effective protection
no business use of natural resources (including the development of dams) except such activities as sport, fishing, the need for management, facilities, etc.

While national parks are generally understood to be administered by national governments (hence the name), in Australia national parks are run by State Governments and predate the Federation of Australia. Also in Japan, some of them called "Quasi-national Parks" (国定公園) are recognized by the government and managed by local governments.^[5]

Examples

National Park Media

Bogd Khan Uul National Park in Mongolia is one of the earliest preserved areas now called a national park.
National parks often allow protected species to flourish. Pictured are Alpine ibexes (Capra ibex) in the Gran Paradiso National Park, Piedmont, Italy. The Ibex population increased tenfold since the area was declared a national park in 1922.
Landscapes of the Koli National Park in North Karelia, Finland, have inspired many painters and composers, e.g. Jean Sibelius, Juhani Aho and Eero Järnefelt.
Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica was listed by Forbes as one of the world's 12 most beautiful national parks.
Beech trees in Mallard Wood, New Forest National Park, Hampshire, England
Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, in California, United States
Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States; Yellowstone was the first national park in the world.
Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, East Java, Indonesia
Royal National Park, New South Wales, Australia
Lago Covel in the Stelvio National Park, Italy