National park

This article is about a kind of natural park. For other uses, see National park (disambiguation).

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.

A national park is a nature park designated for conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protected and owned by a government. Although governments hold different standards for national park designation, the conservation of 'wild nature' for posterity and as a symbol of national pride[1] is a common motivation for the continued protection of all national parks around the world. National parks are almost always accessible to the public.[2] Usually national parks are developed, owned and managed by national governments, though in some countries with federal or devolved forms of government, "national parks" may be the responsibility of subnational, regional, or local authorities.[a]

The United States established Yellowstone National Park, the first "public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people," in 1872.[3] Although Yellowstone was not officially termed a "national park" at the time, in practice[4] it is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world.[5] However, the Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve (in what is now Trinidad and Tobago; established in 1776)[6] and the area surrounding Bogd Khan Uul Mountain (Mongolia, 1778), which were restricted from cultivation to protect surrounding farmland, are considered the oldest legally protected areas.[7][8] Parks Canada, established on May 19, 1911, is the world's oldest national park service.[9]

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and its World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) have defined "National Park" as its Category II type of protected areas.[10] According to the IUCN, 6,555 national parks worldwide met its criteria in 2006. IUCN is still discussing the parameters of defining a national park.

The largest national park in the world meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park, which was established in 1974 and is 972,000 km2 (375,000 sq mi) in area.[11]

  1. ^ Europarc Federation (eds.) 2009, Living Parks, 100 Years of National Parks in Europe, Oekom Verlag, München
  2. ^ Gissibl, B., S. Höhler and P. Kupper, 2012, Civilizing Nature, National Parks in Global Historical Perspective, Berghahn, Oxford
  3. ^ "Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920". American Memory - Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 23 January 2017.
  4. ^ Report of the Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park for the Year 1872 Archived 3 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, 43rd Congress, 3rd Session, ex. doc. 35, quoting Department of Interior letter of 10 May 1872, "The reservation so set apart is to be known as the "Yellowstone National Park"."
  5. ^ "Yellowstone National Park". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 3 June 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  6. ^ "Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve". UNESCO. 17 August 2011. Archived from the original on 15 August 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  7. ^ Hardy, U. (9 April 2017). "The 10 Oldest National Parks in the World". The CultureTrip. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  8. ^ Bonnett, A. (2016). The Geography of Nostalgia: Global and Local Perspectives on Modernity and Loss. Routledge. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-315-88297-0.
  9. ^ Irish, Paul (13 May 2011). "Parks Canada celebrates a century of discovery". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
  10. ^ "Category II: National Park". IUCN. 5 February 2016. Archived from the original on 18 November 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  11. ^ Vereinte Nationen; World Conservation Monitoring Centre, eds. (1994). 1993 United Nations list of national parks and protected areas: = Liste des Nations Unies des parcs nationaux et des aires protégées 1993 = Lista de las Naciones Unidas de parques nacionales y areas protegidas 1993. Gland: IUCN/UICN. ISBN 978-2-8317-0190-5.


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