Nature park. A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscapes are preserved in their present ecological state and promoted for ecotourism purposes.

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

In terms of level of protection, a category "Nature Park" is not the same as a "National Park", which is defined by the IUCN and its World Commission on Protected Areas as a category II protected area. 
A "Nature Park" designation, depending on local specifics, falls between category III and category VI according to IUCN categorization, in most cases closer to category VI.
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.

 European Nature Parks: Cross-border plans and projects are carried out under the Europarc umbrella.
 Protected Area Network of Parks (PANPark), certification by the WWF initiated network which are aimed at combining the preservation of wilderness with tourism

Nature parks by country

Austria   

There are currently 47 nature parks in Austria with a total area of around 500,000 ha (as at April 2010). They are host to nearly 20 million visitors annually. 
The designation of "nature park" is awarded by the respective state governments. To achieve this award, the 4 pillars of a nature park have to be met: conservation, recreation, education and regional development.

Association of Austrian Nature Parks (VNÖ) 

In 1995 all the Austrian nature parks agreed to be represented by the Association of Austrian Nature Parks (Verband der Naturparke Österreichs) or VNÖ.

Currently there are nature parks in the following states:

Belgium 
In Belgium, there are two different structures. In Flanders, their name is Regionale Landschappen and in Wallonia, the Natural Parks. There are 17 Regionale Landschappen in Flanders and 9 Natural Parks in Wallonia.
 Fédération des Parcs naturels de Wallonie
 Regionale Landschappen

Croatia 
In Croatia there is a total of eight national parks and twelve nature parks. Under nature park protection are the following regions:

 Biokovo
 Kopački rit
 Lonjsko polje
 Medvednica
 Papuk
 Telašćica
 Učka
 Velebit
 Vransko jezero
 Žumberak-Samoborsko gorje
 Lastovo
 Nature Park Zavratnica

Czech Republic 
In the Czech Republic a Nature Park (Přírodní Park) is defined as a large area serving the protection of a landscape against activities that could decrease its natural and esthetic value. They can be established by any State Environment Protection body.

France

Germany 

The Nature park is one of the options for area-based nature conservation provided for under the Federal Nature Conservation Act (the BNatSchG). On 6 June 1956 in the former capital city of Bonn at the annual meeting of the Nature Reserve Association (in the presence of President Theodor Heuss and Minister Heinrich Lübke)., the environmentalist and entrepreneur, Alfred Toepfer, presented a programme developed jointly with the Central Office for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management and other institutions to set up (initially) 25 nature parks in West Germany. Five percent of the area of the old Federal Republic of Germany was to be spared from major environmental damage as a result.

Definition of nature parks in Germany 
The definition of the category of nature park is laid down in federal law (§ 27 of the BNatSchG). Details, especially with regard to the identification, investigation or recognition as a nature park vary in each state depending on the provisions of local conservation law.

§ 27 of the BnatSchG determines that natural parks are large areas that are to be developed and managed as a single unit, that consist mainly of protected landscapes or nature reserves, that have a large variety of species and habitats and that have a landscape that exhibits a variety of uses.

In nature parks, the aim is to strive for environmentally sustainable land use and they should be especially suitable for recreation and for sustainable tourism because of their topographical features.

The underlying idea is a "protection through usage", so the acceptance and participation of the population in the protection of the cultural landscape and nature is very important. In doing so the nature conservation and the needs of recreation users should be linked so that both sides benefit: sustainable tourism with respect for the value of nature and landscape is paramount.

Basically all actions, interventions and projects that would be contrary to the purpose of conservation are prohibited.

Nature parks are to be considered in zoning and must be represented and considered in local development plans. This is called an acquisition memorandum. They are binding and cannot be waived because of a higher common good.

The sponsors of nature parks are usually clubs or local special purpose associations.

The German nature parks come together in the Association of German Nature Parks.

In Germany today there are 101 nature parks (as at: March 2009), that occupy some 25% of the land area. They are an important building block for nature conservation and help to preserve the sites of natural beauty, cultural landscapes, rare species and biotopes and to make them accessible to later generations.

Hungary 
 Geschriebenstein-Írottkő (cross-border park with Burgenland in Austria)
 Raab-Örseg-Goricko (cross-border park with Burgenland in Austria and Goričko in Slovenia)

Italy 
South Tyrol has 8 nature parks and part of a national park

 Schlern-Rosengarten
 Texelgruppe
 Puez-Geisler
 Fanes-Sennes-Prags
 Trudner Horn
 Sexten Dolomites
 Rieserferner-Ahrn
 Sarntal Alps
 Stelvio

Philippines

In the Philippines, Natural Parks are a type of protected area. They are defined by Republic Act No. 7586 as: "relatively large areas not materially altered by human activity where extractive resource uses are not allowed and maintained to protect outstanding natural and scenic areas of national or international significance for scientific, educational and recreational use."

They include:
 Apo Reef
 Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park
 Bicol Natural Park
 Bongsanglay Natural Park
 Bulusan Volcano Natural Park
 Kalbario-Patapat Natural Park
 Lake Danao (Leyte)
 Mahagnao Volcano
 Mayon Volcano Natural Park
 Mount Apo
 Mount Balatukan
 Mount Guiting-Guiting
 Mount Inayawan Range Natural Park
 Mount Isarog
 Kalatungan Mountain Range
 Kanlaon
 Kitanglad Mountain Range
 Mount Malindang
 Northern Negros Natural Park
 Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park
 Northwest Panay Peninsula Natural Park
 Pasonanca Natural Park
 Samar Island Natural Park
 Sibalom Natural Park
 Tubbataha Reef (also a World Heritage Site)

Switzerland 

In Switzerland the establishment of regional nature parks is regulated by the Federal Act on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage. The three categories are:
 National parks (the Swiss National Park)
 Regional nature parks (sixteen parks)
 Aargau Jura Park
 Parc Ela
 Thal Nature Park
 Entlebuch Biosphere
 Val Müstair Biosphere
 Etc.
 Nature experience parks (the Wildnispark Zurich Sihlwald)

National parks and nature experience parks have very strict protected areas, something which does not exist in regional nature parks. The latter focus much more on striking a balance in the level of support between nature conservation and the regional economy.

Spain 
In Spain, a natural park (Spanish: parque natural) is a natural space protected for its biology, geology, or landscape, with ecological, aesthetic, educational, or scientific value whose preservation merits preferential attention on the part of public administration. The regulation of the activities that may occur there attempts to assure its protection. Natural parks focus their attention on the conservation and maintenance of flora, fauna, and terrain. Natural parks may be maritime or terrestrial and can be in the mountains, along the coasts, in the desert, or any other geographically defined space.

Spain distinguishes natural parks from national parks. The categories of protected areas in Spain under Law 4/1989 are not based on higher or lower levels of protection, but on functions and characteristics:

 Parks: "natural areas, little transformed by human exploitation and occupation, that, for reason of the beauty of their landscapes, the representativeness of their ecosystems or their flora, fauna or geomorphological formations, possesses ecological, aesthetic, educational and scientific value, whose conservation merits preferential attention."
 National parks: "those spaces that, being able to be declared as Parks by Law of the General Courts, are declared their conservation of general interest of the Nation with the attribution to the State of its management and the corresponding allocation of budgetary resources."
 Nature reserves: "natural spaces whose creation has as its end the protection of ecosystems, communities or biological elements that, because of their rarity, fragility, importance or singularity merit a special valuation."
 Natural monuments: "natural spaces or elements constituted basically by formations of notably singularity, rarity or beauty, that merit being the object of special protection."
 Protected Landscapes: "concrete places in the natural environment that, because of their aesthetic and cultural valuer, merit special protection."

The largest protected space in Spain, and also its largest natural park, is the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas Natural Park in the province of Jaén, at the headwaters of the Guadalquivir. 9.1 percent of the surface area of Spain is protected, including 42 percent of the Canary Islands, 30.5 percent of Andalusia, and 21.51 percent of Catalonia, with lesser percentages in the other autonomous communities. Andalusia, being far larger than the Canary Islands or Catalonia, has 36 percent of the total protected areas in the country.

See also 
Animal sanctuary
Zoo

Notes and references

External links 

 Home page of the Association of German Nature Parks
 Home page of the Association of Austrian Nature Parks
 Home page of the Swiss Parks Network
 Homepage of the South Tyrol Nature Parks
 Europarc Germany

 
Parks
Protected areas