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A national park is a park in use for conservation purposes. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea: the conservation of 'wild nature' for posterity and as a symbol of national pride.〔Europarc Federation (eds.) 2009, Living Parks, 100 Years of National Parks in Europe, Oekom Verlag, Munchen〕 An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and its World Commission on Protected Areas, has defined "National Park" as its ''Category II'' type of protected areas. While this type of national park had been proposed previously, the United States established the first "public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people", Yellowstone National Park, in 1872.〔(The Act )〕 Although Yellowstone was not officially termed a "national park" in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice〔(Report of the Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park for the Year 1872 ), 43rd Congress, 3rd Session, ex. doc. 35, quoting Department of Interior letter of May 10, 1872, "The reservation so set apart is to be known as the "Yellowstone National Park"."〕 and is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world. The first area to use "national park" in its creation legislation was the US's Mackinac Island, in 1875. Australia's Royal National Park, established in 1879, was the world's third official national park. In 1895 ownership of Mackinac Island was transferred to the State of Michigan as a state park and national park status was consequently lost.〔Kim Allen Scott, 2011 "Robertson's Echo The Conservation Ethic in the Establishment of Yellowstone and Royal National Parks" Yellowstone Science 19:3〕 As a result, Australia's Royal National Park is by some considerations the second oldest national park now in existence.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Audley Bottom )〕〔Rodney Harrison, 2012 "Heritage: Critical approaches" Routledge〕 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, 6,555 national parks worldwide met its criteria in 2006. IUCN is still discussing the parameters of defining a national park.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/press/history.htm )〕 National parks are almost always open to visitors.〔Gissibl, B., S. Höhler and P. Kupper, 2012, ''Civilizing Nature, National Parks in Global Historical Perspective'', Berghahn, Oxford〕 Most national parks provide outdoor recreation and camping opportunities as well as classes designed to educate the public on the importance of conservation and the natural wonders of the land in which the national park is located. ==Definitions== In 1969, the IUCN declared a national park to be a relatively large area with the following defining characteristics:〔Gulez, Sumer (1992). A method of evaluating areas for national park status.〕 * One or several ecosystems not materially altered by human exploitation and occupation, where plant and animal species, geomorphological sites and habitats are of special scientific, educational, and recreational interest or which contain a natural landscape of great beauty; * Highest competent authority of the country has taken steps to prevent or eliminate exploitation or occupation as soon as possible in the whole area and to effectively enforce the respect of ecological, geomorphological, or aesthetic features which have led to its establishment; and * Visitors are allowed to enter, under special conditions, for inspirational, educative, cultural, and recreative purposes. In 1971, these criteria were further expanded upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park. These include: * Minimum size of 1,000 hectares within zones in which protection of nature takes precedence * Statutory legal protection * Budget and staff sufficient to provide sufficient effective protection * Prohibition of exploitation of natural resources (including the development of dams) qualified by such activities as sport, fishing, the need for management, facilities, etc. While the term national park is now defined by the IUCN, many protected areas in many countries are called national park even when they correspond to other categories of the IUCN Protected Area Management Definition, for example:〔〔European Environment Agency (''Protected areas in Europe – an overview'' ) In: EEA Report No 5/2012 Kopenhagen: 2012 ISBN 978-92-9213-329-0 ISSN 1725-9177 (pdf ) doi=10.2800/55955〕 * 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 - National Monument * Vitosha National Park, Bulgaria: IUCN IV - Habitat Management Area * New Forest National Park, United Kingdom: IUCN V - Protected Landscape * Etniko Ygrotopiko Parko Delta Evrou, Greece: IUCN VI - Managed Ressource Protected Area 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; similarly, national parks in the Netherlands are administered by the provinces.〔 In many countries, including Indonesia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, national parks do not adhere to the IUCN definition, while some areas which adhere to the IUCN definition are not designated as national parks.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「National park」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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