NATIONAL PARKS

national parks: translation

large areas of countryside set aside for both the enjoyment of people and the conservation of the environment. They exist in many countries but are delimited and run differently according to prevailing conditions in each place. For example, in the USA they are often areas of extreme wilderness where very little development is allowed. As the country is so large, this is possible. By contrast, in the UK this approach cannot work as population density is so high, and land so scarce, that areas set aside as National Parks have to be rural areas where significant numbers of people live and work. Thus much of the land in UK National Parks is privately owned and conflict can arise between owners, conservationists and tourist/recreational users.