Nature park

A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected natural 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 type of protected area. A "Nature Park" designation, depending on local specifics, falls between category III and according to IUCN categorization, in most cases closer to category VI. However some nature parks have later been turned into national 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 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. 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: 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.