National parks - how do they help the environment?

Hello

National parks are a place of immense beauty. They are know as tourist attractions and are best recognised by their incredible landscapes. Today we are talking about their effects on the natural world!

Yosemite National Park, United States

National parks are normally created and protected by governments. In most cases, they have public access, meaning that visitors can walk around in them and admire them. The IUCN defines what is a national park and what isn't. In 2006, over 6 500 areas met the criteria and are defined as a national park. However, there are many areas called National Park, that aren't a national park according to IUCN and there are places that the IUCN defines as a national park but the government doesn't. So some countries have their own definitions. In the UK and some other countries, a national park referes to an undeveloped, scenic, tourist attracting area that has some planning restrictions. This may seem quite subjective, because there isn't really a scientific definition for scenic. So the term, national park is not very firm or well defined. Terms such as "preserve", "reserve" and sometimes just "park" are also used.

Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, Japan

The world's oldest national parks include Yellowstone National Park (United States), Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve (Trinidad and Tobago) and Bogd Khan Uul Mountain (Mongolia). Following the IUCN definition, the smallest national park is the Isles des Madeleines National Park (0.45 squ.km) and the largest national park is the Northeast Greenland National Park (972 000 squ. km).

Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

National parks have many benefits for humans. They bring in massive numbers of tourists, which is highly beneficial for the economy. In the US in 2019, the national parks brought in 41.7 billion dollars for the US economy. They also produce hundreds of thousands of jobs and boost the economy on a local level as well as nationally. Having an accessible green space is also known to have amzing health benefits especially for people living in crowded cities and large towns. They are also a research opportunity for scientists and have a great educational value for pupils and students.

Cairngorms National Park, Scotland

Above all else, national parks are amazing for the environment. They protect ecosystems, help critically endangered species to recover, protect and improve air quality, host biodiversity, often store carbon, protect natural ressources, stabilise soil, reduce flooding, protect coastlines and sometimes even generate renewable energy. One of the most well known projects, is when wolves were reintroducted into Yellowstone National Park (United States) in 1995. The wolves tranformed the entire ecosystem and even changed the course of the rivers. Watch the video here.

Yellowstone National Park, United States

However there is some critism at national parks. This mainly comes from the fact, that when many national park were created, the indigenous people living there were forced to move. This has led many people to say that certain national parks are a symbol of colonialism and should be returned to their previous owners (the indigenous people). Many governments and organisations are organising for the indigenous people to be allowed to live in their ancestrial lands and are often encouraged to continue with their traditions. Now they are often included in the tourism sector and many indigenous people in national parks work as guides or performers and help with the conservation of the land.

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Austrailia

We hope you enjoyed this post and found it interesting. If you want us to talk about one park in more detail then let us know in the comments or send us an email at contact.greenworld@gmail.com

Your Green World Blog Team💚

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_park
https://www.treehugger.com/why-are-national-parks-important-5184042
https://interestingengineering.com/culture/how-do-national-parks-help-the-environment
https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/how-wolves-change-rivers/

Images:
Yosemite National Park: This image, owned by - Adam Reeder - (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park: This image, owned by SteFou! (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Torres del Paine National Park: This image, owned by Harshil Shah (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Cairngorms National Park: This image, owned by Ben Palmer (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Yellowstone National Park: This image, owned by josephmccowie (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park: This image, owned by scott1346 (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Comments

16.08.2020 Animal of the week: Elephant

Hello. On the 12th of August it was International Elephant Day, so we decided that this week's post should be about elephants. Elephants are the largest living land mammals. There are three types of elephant; the African bush elephant; the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant. African elephants have larger ears, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears. Elephants use their trunks to breath, bring food and drink to their mouths and to grasp objects. Elephants' legs are like pillars. They carry the Elephant's massive weight. African bush elephants weigh 6000kg, Asian elephants weigh 4000kg and African forest elephants weigh 2700kg. Basically, they are very heavy.Elephants eat grasses, small plants, bushes, fruit, twigs, tree bark, and roots. Elephants can live up to 70 years old in the wild. They communicate by sight, touch and smell. Sadly, these wonderful mammals are in danger. African elephants are listed as vulne...

Discussion || Should Everyone Switch To Electric Cars?

Hi Everyone! Thank you so much for joining me today, as I hop on the blog to discuss whether everyone switching to electric cars would really help the environment. In other words, should everyone switch to electric cars? This is the first part of a two-part series, discussing electric cars, so stay tuned for part two!! I would like to start this post by stating that I am by no means an expert. This is knowledge I have from my own experience, and from research I have done. If anything is incorrect please take it as it is and accept that this is a discussion and I am taking on board all opinions from reliable sources on this complex topic. Electric cars are a huge topic when it comes to sustainability and "saving our planet". There is no debating the fact that electric cars are better for the environment than diesel or petrol once they are on the road. But the production of them is often very polluting, with one study show...

Air pollution

Hi Everyone, Today we're talking about air pollution. We've all heard about air pollution, normally in connection to cars, coal mines or planes. But what are the consequences of too much air pollution and what can we do about it? One type of air pollution is known as PM2.5. These are particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. This means that we cannot see them without technology such as microscopes. They are produced in a number of different ways including power generation, motor traffic, domestic heating and chemical reactions taking place in the air around us. Although these particles are very small and "invisible", they can cause a lot of damage. Research data now shows links between this form of air pollution and cancers, premature births, diabetes (especially type 2) and heart and lung disease. It is shown to cause 400 000 deaths across Europe every year. Unfortunately this form of air pollution is widespread. A guardian article explains how in Europe alone...

Animals 26-30 in our '50 incredible animals' series

Hello, Welcome back. We're very sorry for missing last week's animals. We've all had a busy time with school work! 26. Blue glaucus Also known as the blue dragon, the blue glaucus is a type of sea slug. They are small, rarely growing longer than 3cm long. Their favourite food is probably the most bizarre thing about them, Portuguese man o' war. Now, for those of you who don't already know, the Portuguese man o' war is one of the most dangerous jellyfish in the world! Different sites have different opinions, but almost all agree that blue glaucus do not hunt the Portuguese man o' war, instead they feed on dead ones or nibble away at living one! But that's still rather impressive. 27. Shoebill Shoebills are very patient and able to stay still for hours. That's how they hunt. When a lungfish comes up for air, they often don't notice the shoebill standing there until it's too late. Shoebill...

19.07.2020: Animal of the week: Honey Bees

Hi everyone, This week's animal is the honey bee. Enjoy! General Information An average honeybee hive is made up of one queen, hundreds of male drones and thousands of female workers. If the queen bee dies then a new queen is created. The workers select a young larva and feed it with a special food called ‘royal jelly’. The ‘royal jelly’ makes the larva grow into a fertile queen. Queens live for several years but the workers only live for five or six weeks. An average worker will make a twelfth of a tee spoon of honey during her entire life. Drones are turned out of the hive and left to die in Autumn. In the summer months, the queen bee is very busy, she can lay up to 2500 eggs in a single day. How they affect the world around them Honey bees are very important for flowers, fruit and vegetables. This comes from the fact that they are pollinators. They help the plants by transferring pollen between male and female parts, meaning the plants can g...

The life of ... a cicada

Hi everyone, We're back to talk about another animal. Cicadas ( Cicadoidea ) are invertebrates and are 1.9cm to 5.7cm in size. There are 3 000 species that can be divided into annual cicadas and periodical cicadas. Annual cicadas can be seen annually and are found worldwide whereas periodical cicadas only leave the ground every decade or two and are only found in North America with hotspots in the eastern and central areas of the United States. Most annual cicadas have a lifespan of about two to five years and periodical cicadas can live up to the age of 17. Female cicadas lay around 400 eggs split up over several places. They normally lay their eggs on twigs, branches or other vegetation. The eggs hatch after about six to ten weeks, now known as nymphs, and dig their way into the soil. The nymphs feed on the liquids found in plant roots. They fully develop underground, before molting their shells and coming to the surface, now fully deve...

Turning waste into valuables

Hi, So this post was requested on Twitter after our September Top Tips about recycling . Today we will be talking about how to turn complete waste into something reasonably valuable. This is basically a form of upcycling but to a more extreme level. 1. Ecobricks So, almost a year ago we did a post about ecobricks , but they are such a good example of turning waste into valuables that we decided to put it here anyway. Ecobricks are a building material made from plastic. The waste plastic is washed and then compacted into a clean plastic bottle (also waste). The bottle becomes very hard and durable. Multiple bottles can then be used as bricks and cemented together. The 'bricks' are strong and do not decompose. For more info, read our post where we go into more detail. 2. Metals Although this may seem like something not worth the time. When you separate the metals in waste (for example an old car), you can get usable metal out ...

10 Animals on the Edge of Extinction No. 10- The Javan Rhino

The Javan rhino is listed as the 1st animal on WWF’s list of the 10 world’s most endangered animals, and I for my part, had never heard of it! If you hadn’t either, we’re changing that now. A bit about the rhino’s lifestyle The Javan rhinos are now exclusively found on the island of Java in Indonesia, but were once found in vast regions of northeast india and Southeast Asia. They have a dark grey colour which looks almost black when wet, and their (often pink) skin folds look a bit like plated armor. Both males and females have lower incisors which resemble tusks that they use to fight. Males have one relatively short horn of about 25 cm (10 inches). Javan Rhinos live in tropical forests, marshy areas and in the thick bush. They are mainly browsers and eat over 100 plants species they find in the forest, weigh between 900 and 2300 kg (1984-5071 pounds) and are between 3 and 3.2 meters (10- 10.5 feet) long. How endangered are we talking? Javan rhinos are the most ...

Amazon Rainforest series - part 3: human involvement

Hi everyone, This is the last post in the amazon rainforest mini series. It's all about how humans have affected the amazon rainforest. Unfortunately, most human impact on the amazon is negative. The Amazon rainforest faces many threats, but the main one is fire. You may think that the fires in the amazon are wildfires or created by accident, but that is not true. All over the amazon, farmers are setting fire to the trees and foliage. For only one reason, to clear land for farming. But this is a disaster. Last month, the amazon rainforest reached its tipping point . Due to the fires, it is now releasing more CO2 than it is absorbing. To feed our growing population, we are killing countless species. Species, that in some cases, we haven't even discovered yet. If the amazon rainforest goes, climate change will become pretty much unstoppable. But it isn't only animals and plants that are suffering. Do you remember all those tribe...

Maldives - the direct impacts of climate change

Welcome back, Today we’re looking at the direct impacts of the climate crisis . The main reason why people don’t believe in climate change is that they can’t see it with their own eyes. So, we’re going to have a look at the Maldives where the effects of climate change become more obvious with every passing year. Maldives The full name of the Maldives is The Republic of the Maldives. It is an independent country made up of about 1 200 islands in the North Indian Ocean. The northernmost island is situated 370 miles away from the mainland (India). The islands are actually the tips of an ancient volcanic mountain range that is now almost completely submerged. In fact, the highest point is 1.8m-2.4m above sea level with the average elevation being 1m above sea level. The islands have a large tourism industry, due to the stunning nature found on and around the islands. 500 000 - 1 500 000 tourists visit the islands each year. This is mainly 'nature to...

Green World

Search This Blog