National parks of the United Kingdom
National parks of the United Kingdom are areas of relatively undeveloped and scenic landscape across the country. Despite their name, they are quite different from national parks in many other countries, which are usually owned and managed by governments as protected community resources, and which do not usually include permanent human communities. In the United Kingdom, an area designated as a national park may include substantial settlements and human land uses that are often integral parts of the landscape. Land within national parks remains largely in private ownership. These parks are therefore not "national parks" according to the internationally accepted standard of the IUCN but they are areas of outstanding landscape where planning controls are a little more restrictive than elsewhere.
Part of the Brecon Beacons National Park (Bannau Brycheiniog), looking from the highest point of Pen y Fan (886 m; 2,907 ft) to Cribyn (795 m; 2,608 ft).
The head of Wasdale – this view appears on the logo of the Lake District National Park Authority
Hadrian's Wall crosses Northumberland National Park
Image: Mam Tor
A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a government declares or owns. Although individual countries 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. National parks are almost always open to visitors.
Bogd Khan Uul National Park in Mongolia is one of the earliest preserved areas now called a national park.
National parks often allow protected species to flourish. Pictured are Alpine ibexes (Capra ibex) in the Gran Paradiso National Park, Piedmont, Italy. The Ibex population increased tenfold since the area was declared a national park in 1922.
Landscapes of the Koli National Park in North Karelia, Finland, have inspired many painters and composers, e.g. Jean Sibelius, Juhani Aho and Eero Järnefelt.
Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica was listed by Forbes as one of the world's 12 most beautiful national parks.