National Park

National park is a reserve of land, usually declared and owned by a national government, protected from most human development and pollution. National parks are protected areas of IUCN category II.

Some countries also designate sites of special cultural, scientific or historical importance as national parks, or as special entities within their national park systems. Other countries use a different scheme for historical site preservation. Some of these sites, if they meet the criteria required, are awarded the title World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. In many countries, local government bodies may be responsible for the maintenance of park systems. Some of these are also called national parks.

Features preserved
National parks are usually located in places which have been largely undeveloped, and often feature areas with exceptional native animals, plants and ecosystems (particularly endangered examples of such), biodiversity, or unusual geological features. Occasionally, national parks are declared in developed areas with the goal of returning the area to resemble its original state as closely as possible.

In some countries, such as England and Wales, areas designated as a national park are not wilderness, nor owned by the government, and can include substantial settlements and land uses which are often integral parts of the landscape

Park mandates
Most national parks have a dual role as offering a refuge for wildlife and as serving as popular tourist areas. Managing the potential for conflict between these two roles can become problematic, particularly as tourists often generate revenue for the parks which, in turn, are spent on conservation projects. Parks also serve as reserves for substantial natural resources, such as timber, minerals and other valuable commodities. The balance of the demand for extraction of these resources, against the damage this might cause, is often a very important challenge in national park management. National parks have been subject to illegal logging and other exploitation, sometimes because of political corruption, or lack of law enforcement. For example, Lorentz National Park in Indonesia has no dedicated staff of guards. This threatens the integrity of many valuable habitats. Another example of indifference to wildlife conservation is the Romanian Parliament's discussions in September 2008 to open thirteen national parks to commercial hunting, in order to eliminate the wildlife from these areas. It is the first step toward an alleged dismantling of national parks in Romania and transformation into human settled areas