Nature park

A nature park is a landscape protected by means of long-term planning, use and agriculture. These valuable landscapes are preserved in their present state and promoted for tourism purposes.

In most countries nature parks are subject to legally regulated protection, which is part of their conservation laws.

A nature park is not the same as a national park, which is defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and its World Commission on Protected Areas as a category II type of protected area. Nor is it the same as a nature reserve which may fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of legal protection afforded, but which is more strictly protected than a nature park. However some nature parks have later been turned into national parks.

International nature parks

The first international nature park in Europe, the present-day Pieniny National Park was founded jointly by Poland and Slovakia in 1932.

List of nature parks in Germany

Ninety eight official nature parks (German: Naturparks) have been established in Germany under section 22, paragraph 4 of that country's Federal Nature Conservation Act (BNatSchG). They comprise about 25 percent of the total land area of Germany and are brought together under the Association of German Nature Parks. Parks that overlap into neighbouring countries are led by Europarc. The oldest is Lüneburg Heath Nature Park, whose core area was established in 1921 as a nature reserve; by 2007 it had expanded to more than four times its original area. The largest nature reserve in Germany, with 3,750 square kilometres (1,450 sq mi) is the Nature Park of the Central and Northern Black Forest and the smallest is Siebengebirge with an area of 48 square kilometres (19 sq mi).

The 14 national parks of Germany, under paragraph 24 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act, are not listed here. See List of national parks of Germany.

Nature parks

References

Further reading