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

29.11.2020 Animal Of The Week: Jaguar

Hello, Today (29th November) is world Jaguar day so this week our animal is the Jaguar. The Jaguar is an animal I know pretty much nothing about so I am going to learn a lot too! Jaguars (panthera onca) live for 12 - 15 years. Their heads and bodies are 150-180cm long and their tails are 70-90cm long! They weigh 45 - 110 kg. Habitat Jaguars live primarily in the Amazon Basin, though they can be found in smaller numbers in Central America. They once lived everywhere from central Argentina up to the southwestern United States but since the 1880s they have lost over half of their territory. They are mainly found in tropical rainforests but can live in savannas and grasslands. Diet They eat fish and turtles as they are actually quite competent swimmers as well as deer, iguanas, birds and monkeys; they will eat almost anything! Are they endangered? Jaguars are classed as near endangered and face several threats. South and Central Americ...

Coral reefs

Hello! We would love to introduce you to the topic of coral reefs and especially coral reef bleaching, as it is a greatly ignored but certainly significant topic. Have fun! 5 coral reef facts 1. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on the planet and is 2300 km long! 2. Less than 0.1% of the world's ocean surface is covered in coral reefs. 3. At least 25% of all marine animals live there. 4. Coral reefs are often known as the rainforests of the ocean. 5. In 1 square kilometre of coral reef, up to 35 tons of fish can be 'produced'. The 5 biggest coral reefs in the world 1. Great Barrier Reef (near Australia) 2. Red Sea Coral Reef (near Egypt, Israel and Djibouti) 3. New Caledonia Reef (Pacific Ocean near New Caledonia) 4. The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (near Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras) 5. Florida Reef (Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico near Florida) What is coral? Coral is actually made up of small anim...

2021: How Our Year Went, Favourite Posts and Some Goals For 2022 | a wrap up

Hi Everyone! Today we wanted to share some thoughts on how our blogging year went in 2021 and some goals for 2022. We are now at the end of January, which is very scary, but we hope you will still enjoy this slightly belated wrap-up. In 2021, we published 36 posts in total. This is pretty good, we posted on average roughly every 10 days. However, there was a lot of time when we didn't post at all and our posts became increasingly just the monthly fact file. Many of you enjoyed the fact file, and for the most part, we enjoyed writing it but it became a bit of a chore by the end, hence the change we have made over to top tips. We think it would be nice to change our monthly post every year, and we will of course involve you in that just as we did this year. Our best posting months were by far August and September, which is understandable because we were on holiday for August and could schedule a lot of posts for September! Something we want to wor...

18.10.20 Animal Of The Week: Sloth

Hello, Sorry this didn't come out on Sunday as planned but this week's animal of the week is the sloth because the twentieth of October is Sloth Day. Habitat The sloth resides in Central and South America. It lives in the rainforests there and occasionally drops into the water for a bathe as, believe it or not, they are actually excellent swimmers! Diet Sloths eat leaves, twigs and buds which they find in the rainforest. As they don't have incisors they smack their lips together to make leaves more digestible. Sloths can survive on relatively little food as it takes a while for them to digest it. Sleep and Speed When you think of a sloth, you probably think of this slow, sleepy creature. They actually sleep for about 15 hours a day! Sloths have an extremely low metabolic rate (what basic calories your body needs to survive), which means they move at a slow pace through the trees. On average, sloths travel 40 yards per day ...

How much do you know about migrating birds? - Quiz

Hello everyone, We've got another quiz for you and this time it's about migrating birds. As most of you probably know, there are loads of birds that fly to a different country or even continent to avoid harsh weather and to find better feeding and breading areas. Questions True or False? Birds use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate while migrating? How many miles does an arctic term migrate? a) between 10 000 and 20 000 km b) between 20 000 and 30 000 km c) more than 40 000 km True or False? Arctic terns can fly 600km in a day. What percentage of birds migrate? a) about 40% b) about 60% c) about 80% True or False? Great snipes travel 5 000 miles at 70mph. How long can the bar-tailed godwit fly non stop for? a) nearly 5000 miles b) nearly 7000 miles c) nearly 9000 miles True or False? Bar-headed geese can fly up to 5.5 miles above sea level. ...

Eco system Galápagos: Part 1 Geography

Hello and welcome to the first post about the Galapagos Islands. Currents and Winds The volcanic islands of Galápagos started to form 4 million years ago. Where they lie, is unique. They are situated directly on the equator, on the Nazca tectonic plate. The Galapagos Islands are on the crossroads of three currents. The cold South Equatorial Current flows westward towards Galapagos. The warm Panama Current runs in from the north. And finally, the deep sea Cromwell Current runs from the west. The Galapagos Islands are also where the Northeast Trade Wind meets the Southeast Trade Wind. Galapagos Hotspot 21 Volcanoes make up the Galápagos Islands with 13 still active. The reason for this volcanic activity is a giant hotspot under the island. A hotspot is a gigantic column of super heated molten lava, rising up towards the surface. It is immense; at least sixty miles (97 kilometers) across and 1800 miles (2897 kilometers) deep. It connects the islands to ...

New Year's Eve 2020 Challenge!!!

Challenge New Year's Eve is only a week away now. Hundreds of people set goals for the coming year on New Year's Eve. We would like you to set some goals that are about the environment. For instance cut down on how much meat you eat or use less plastic. You can chose the easy, the normal or the hard challenge. Easy Challenge For the easy challenge you only need to set one environmental goal. Normal Challenge To complete the normal challenge you will need to set three environmental goals. Hard Challenge This one is for people who are willing to give things up for the environment. To do the hard challenge you must set five environmental goals. Completion Date 31.12. (New Year's Eve) You have one week. Other info Tell us about your goals We would love you to tell us about your goals. If you wish to share them with us: just write them in a comment. Tips Don't set goals that you know you won't be able to complete. Just...

Animals 11-15 in our '50 incredible animals' series

Hello, We have another five amazing animals for you today. Enjoy! 11. Dhole This is a dog species which looks rather like a red fox . They are difficult to put into any of the dog subfamilies. They aren't foxes, nor wolves, nor domestic dogs. Dholes are fast runners and live in packs of 5-12 individuals. Although sometimes, different packs will join forces to become a pack of 30 or more individuals! However, these super packs are broken up after a successful hunt. The different packs rarely attack each other as neighbouring packs are often closely related. Dhole packs live in burrows with multiple entrances. They can be found in eastern and southern Asia. They eat wild berries, insects and lizards and as a pack hunt deer, rodents and other wild mammals. Interestingly, unlike other dogs, they rarely kill by biting at the throat. They are also good swimmers! 12. Irrawaddy dolphin The Irrawaddy dolphin can be found in coastal areas of south a...

Green Pets: Introducing my new house plant!

Hi Everyone! As you can tell by the title of this post, I got a new houseplant! It was a Christmas present but I chose it in a really sweet plant shop near me. It is called a Mind Your Own Business, in more technical terms a Soleirolia. It's latin name is Soleirolia soleirolii. Introducing Mr Darcy! I named it Mr Darcy because I love Pride and Prejudice and I thought it appropriate! It needs to have constantly moist soil and has to be watered by being put in a bowl of water, rather than with a jug. This is because it will get a hole where the water has gone down as it is quite delicate and the leaves are very fine. It's important to look up how much water your house plant needs and get tips from experts to help your plant to thrive. I talked to the lady in the shop when we were buying it and she told me about how to look after it. It is joining my two other house pla...

10 animals on the edge of extinction you didn't know about no. 9 - South Island takahē

Hello Today we’re talking about the South Island takahē, porphyrio hochstetteri . They are flightless birds, endemic to New Zealand. Takahē are brightly coloured and weigh 2.3-3.8 kg. They have red legs and a large red beak. Their feathers are coloured blue and green. They have wings, but these are only used during courtship or rivalry displays. They are territorial, with one family’s territory reaching anywhere from 4 ha to 100 ha (0,04-1km^2). Pairs will live in the same territory each year. They breed once a year and will raise 1-3 chicks (normally 2) each year. Both parents raise the chicks together. In the wild, takahē live in native grasslands and have a lifespan of 16-18 years. If snow covers the ground then they will move into nearby forests. They eat tussock grasses, sedges and sometimes rushes. But they are opportunists, so they will occasionally go for insects or even ducklings and...

Green World

Search This Blog