Nationalpark

A national park is a vast reserve, which is generally subject to its natural dynamics and is protected from unwanted human interference and from pollution by specific measures. Most are the areas that are ecologically valuable or have natural beauty and managed on behalf of a government. They are often used as recreational areas and for sustainable tourism. The definition of a national park is not available in all countries equally. Yet there is a common idea: the conservation of wild nature for posterity and as a symbol of national pride.

• 4.1 Germany
• 4.2 Austria

History

The idea is to provide a particularly sensitive nature landscape under total protection, was created in the early 19th century. The English poet William Wordsworth called this in 1810 as well as the American painter George Catlin in 1832 and the Swedish Baron Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld in 1880. My thought was to preserve the wonders of nature, so that future generations enjoy them and can recover here. 1864 the first protected area was at the instigation of conservationist John Muir defined - in today's Yosemite National Park ( California) - but which was only in 1906 incorporated into the resulting national park system. The first national park was also established in 1872 with the Yellowstone National Park in the USA. In contrast to Yosemite protection zone of the Yellowstone national park was not the responsibility of the state, but directly by the U.S. government. 1916, the National Park Service was established as an independent agency of the Ministry of Interior to life.

The ( colonial ) countries Canada, Australia and New Zealand soon followed with the establishment of national parks, since even large areas of so-called pristine nature existed which could be relatively easily protected. In 1879, Australia the Royal National Park, 1887 Canada Banff National Park ( then known as Rocky Mountain National Park ) and New Zealand in the same year the Tongariro National Park.

In Europe the first national parks were established in 1909 in Sweden and 1914 in Switzerland. Especially after the Second World War, established the national park idea, and exist today in about 120 countries, more than 2,200 national parks. The scenic variety of areas is enormous and includes almost all types of landscapes.

Of interest is the history of the Royal National Park in Australia, largely lies with 154.42 km ² area in the urban area of ​​the metropolis of Sydney and is the second oldest national park in the world. He was quickly erected in 1879 for economic reasons after coal deposits were discovered in the area and politically influential mine owner of the Outback feared a competitor on the outskirts of the city. In this way, a jewel largely untouched nature remained.

In German, the terms natural monument and protected area were consistently since the beginning of the 20th century. Been incorporated, the term only in the 1970s. The expression is less in the sense of IUNC, but in terms of national importance.

Today, the conservation is coordinated by the IUCN world. The IUCN organized every ten years an international congress (World Parks Congress ), are committed to the strategies for conservation in national parks. The last congress was held in 2003 in Durban (South Africa) instead.

Category of the IUCN National Park

Definition

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources ( IUCN) uses a 1978 and 1994 introduced revised system in which national parks form the Category II protected areas.

"Category II protected areas are large natural or near natural areas set aside to protect large-scale ecological processes, along with the complement of species and ecosystems characteristic of the area, ie, Which Provide a foundation for environmentally and culturally compatible, spiritual, scientific, educational, recreational, and visitor opportunities. "

"Protected areas designed to protect large natural areas, along with the abundant species and ecosystems in the long term. These should also - stand for emotional needs, science, research and education, and for recreation and sightseeing available " - environmentally friendly and with local acceptance.

According to this definition, national parks natural areas on the water or the land that are provided

• To protect the integrity of one or more ecosystems and preserve them for current and future generations.
• To prevent exploitation as well as other activities that cause damage in the field.
• In order to provide a basis for spirituality, research, training, recreation and sightseeing available, which is environmentally and culturally compatible.

Measures

As with all IUCN categories, the focus of classification is on the design of protection objective and management ( measures of interventions and prohibitions ): The IUCN calls for recognition of a national park in general that the nature of 75 % of the area is left to itself. Exceptions are possible, and regulatory intervention are locally permitted if this is necessary for scientific research and monitoring to maximize the biodiversity or to favor rarer species. In order for a national park of a total reserve is different.

Examples of activities in National Parks:

• Inventory Management of Wild Game
• Preservation of cultural landscapes ( meadows that would develop without continuous care to a forest )
• Elimination of entrained, non-native species
• Reintroduction of locally extinct species
• Change of water to prevent silting or to put them in a more natural state (if they were affected before the establishment of the national park by humans )

The targeted interventions in nature that are deemed necessary to restore the disturbed by human ecological balance and, if necessary, to obtain. Measures to maintain the balance needed when the ecosystem has been substantially altered by humans ( extinction of large predators or change of salinity of a lake ) and this change can not be undone. Other interventions should be used to obtain a variety of habitats and to save rare or endangered species by artificially improved conditions. In up to 25 % of the area of a national park even an economic use is permitted (hunting, fishing, agriculture, extraction of firewood). In contrast to a natural reserve or conservation area, however, have in a national park not the needs of the people but that of nature prevail.

Differentiation from national definitions

The management-oriented concept of IUCN Category II National Park has to do with the National Park in the expulsion of the countries hardly anything, although many - especially younger - under state law definitions guided by the recommendations of the IUCN.

Examples of the differences:

• Swiss National Park, Switzerland: IUCN Ia Strict Nature Reserve
• Everglades National Park, USA: IUCN Ib Wilderness Area
• Białowieża National Park, Poland: IUCN II National Park
• Victoria Falls National Park, Zimbabwe: IUCN III Natural Monument ( National Monument )
• Vitosha National Park, Bulgaria: IUCN IV habitat protection area ( Habitat Management Area )
• New Forest National Park, United Kingdom: IUCN V Protected Landscape ( Protected Landscape )
• Etniko Ygrotopiko Parko Delta Evrou, Greece: IUCN VI Managed Resource Protected Area ( Managed Resource Protected Area)

National Parks in practice

National parks are usually located in remote, sparsely populated areas and often are home to an extraordinary number of different native animal and plant species, some of which are threatened. This is to be granted in national parks an environment that ensures their long-term survival. Sometimes national parks include minerals or rare geological objects, such as the geysers and hot springs of Yellowstone National Park.

On the other hand, national parks are being built in more populated regions, to return them to a more natural state. In some countries such as England and Wales are national parks, neither the government nor are they untouched wilderness. Rather, they may contain human settlements, who use their land. In Africa, national parks mainly serve as wildlife reserve in Asia rather scientific purposes. North America offers classic national parks to recreation and exploration purposes, in which effects of mass tourism pose a threat to conservation.

Most national parks are not only the protection of plants and animals but at the same time the rest of people. This can lead to conflicts, particularly in heavily visited national parks, as by contact with people the flight distance of the animals decreased ( National Park effect). On the other hand, the National Park can use the tourist revenue to finance protective measures for animals and plants and it is hoped that visitors will gain from the experience of nature a positive attitude towards nature conservation. For the national park administrations, it is a difficult challenge to find the balance between the protection of natural resources and their public accessibility.

Another challenge is the monitoring of the National Park area. Especially in countries with widespread poverty there is in national parks and over again to illegal timber felling and poaching.

For information and educational work in national parks, the concept of Heritage Interpretation has been developed in the U.S. National Park Service in 1950, today also many other visitor-oriented facilities worldwide work after.

National

Germany

The Neander Valley near Dusseldorf (1921 ) ( actually already Drachenfels ) is considered the first German nature reserve. The term National Park was established by the Bavarian Forest National Park in 1970. 1978 was followed by the Berchtesgaden National Park. 1985, 1986 and 1990, the coastal areas of the German Wadden Sea have been designated as national parks. In the GDR there was until 1989 no national parks. But public access around 15 % of the land area had been closed and had almost untouched landscapes. In times of upheaval in 1990 have been implemented five national parks before the reunification in national parks program of the GDR. Since then, six other national parks were added to 2004, the establishment of a park " Elbtalaue " failed in 1999. Since 2006, the two national parks in the resin to a common Harz National Park merged, made ​​in Germany 14 national parks. Since the 1970s, however, is controversial whether the fines in the Federal Republic National Parks meet the international requirements of the IUCN. A first official certificate in 2011 received the National Park basement Edersee.

Austria

In Austria there is no direct connection with the IUCN category: Nature conservation is Austria the states. National Parks are the only protected areas of the covenant, so gesamtösterreichisch. Implemented they are § 15a - contracts, which are domestic contracts between federal and state governments. In the country's law, the national parks are then where there are any (Vorarlberg has no part in a national park ), reported in its scope within its borders as its own reserve, partly as protection class, sometimes only prescribed: Most expulsion replaced as a national park, all pre-existing protection categories. Salzburg and Carinthia know as stringent complement to Nationionalpark Guard the special reserve. The national parks are also consistently identified in the framework of the European network Natura 2000.

The requirements of the IUCN Category II also be implemented so that a core zone and a peripheral zone (buffer zone) is defined. The former is then IUCN category II, temptation Category V ( Protected Landscape) or VI (resource protection). A park (NP Nock ) was downgraded just as Category V, and was therefore converted into a Biosphere Reserve. The national parks are then consistently still surrounded by less strict protection classes, such as protected areas or protected parts of the landscape in terms of a further buffering, and networked with near other major protected areas in terms of an ecological corridor ( ECONNECT ).