The greatest of our natural heritage is preserved in national parks, including breathtaking scenery, exceptional species, and imposing woods. But, are there more reasons why national parks are important?
Together with other protected areas, they serve as the cornerstone of our economic and social well-being, draw numerous millions of tourists each year, and aid in the preservation of our distinctive fauna by serving as havens for endangered species.
Although the preservation of biodiversity is their main goal, national parks also provide countless economic, social, cultural, and health advantages.
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What is a National Park?
National parks are managed for ecosystem protection and leisure and are preserved by the government due to their natural beauty or unique history, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
The purpose of national parks is to preserve the ecosystem. They take part in leisure and entertainment activities for the general public. A national park preserves the natural habitats of its plants, animals, and landscapes.
A type of in-situ wildlife conservation is done in national parks. The preservation of locations in their native habitats is referred to as in-situ conservation. The national parks are places under protection from human intrusion other than for scholarly and research endeavors.
There are over 4,000 national parks worldwide, and that number is constantly growing as more and more nations recognize the need of protecting regions of natural beauty or biological significance.
The American government decided that Niagra Falls ought to be safeguarded before they were destroyed in the 1860s, which is when the concept of national parks first emerged.
Other notable national parks include Sagamartha National Park in Nepal, Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, Kruger National Park in South Africa, Tongariro National Park in New Zealand, Galapagos National Park in Ecuador, and the Great Sand Dunes National Park in the USA.
Reasons Why National Parks Are Important
The following are the reasons why our national parks are important.
- Protecting Biodiversity
- Protecting the Environment
- Sustainable Energy Sources
- Reduce Natural Disaster
- Economy Growth
- Impacts on Health
- Impacts on Mental Health
- Social Connections
1. Protecting Biodiversity
National parks protect the vast wilderness regions found in nature, and they frequently concentrate on the preservation of unique landscapes or significant animals.
The fact that every modification to an area’s environment might have significant and unforeseen repercussions makes maintaining biodiversity challenging.
For instance, the beaver was hunted to extinction in several European nations, but there is currently a campaign to restore beavers due to their crucial function in river ecosystems.
This includes chewing on stems that house insects and birds, making wetlands that house a variety of creatures and serve as sponges, assisting river flow, lowering the risk of flash floods, and storing water during dry spells.
Additionally, the organic sediments that are captured by their dams lessen the impact of agricultural runoffs. Therefore, modifications to just one ecosystem component might have various repercussions on numerous other components.
2. Protecting the Environment
National parks are crucial to the preservation of the ecosystem. They are often wild places free from human interference (apart from what is required for conservation), which means they do not contribute to the harm to the environment that humans inflict.
Currently, 14.8% of the planet’s territory is under protection, which doesn’t harm the ecosystem.
3. Sustainable Energy Sources
Sustainable energy is also available in national parks. Hydropower, wind energy, and solar energy are examples of this. To lessen the usage of fossil fuels and their environmental effects, many nations are now exploring ways to use national park regions as renewable energy sources.
Additionally, by storing carbon and lowering its concentration in the atmosphere, national parks can directly contribute to decreasing the effects of human environmental harm.
National parks and other protected areas contain about 15% of the carbon stored in forests. Over 4 billion tons of carbon are stored in 25 million hectares of forest in places like Bolivia, Venezuela, and Mexico.
4. Reduce Natural Disaster
The number of natural disasters is growing as a result of human-caused climate change, which makes weather systems more unpredictable. Natural catastrophes’ effects can be lessened by national parks.
Typhoons, hurricanes, and tsunamis are just a few of the natural calamities that are safeguarded from by marine protected areas, such as coral reefs and coastal wetlands. Many national parks in the interior have forested sections, which can act as a barrier against natural calamities.
For instance, hillside forests can shield inhabitants from avalanches and seismic damage, sparing many lives.
With many national parks now offering education programs presenting this to the public, national parks also offer a chance for teaching about the significance of preventing climate change and how to modify behavior to do so.
5. Economy Growth
Both the national economy and local economies are impacted by national parks. In the US, national parks receive 300 million visitors annually, and it is thought that every dollar invested in them yields a $10 return.
The local rural towns known as “gateway communities” that are close to the national parks value them as well. Tourists can be a significant source of jobs and cash for the local community by spending money at hotels, stores, bars, restaurants, and other establishments in these locations.
National parks assist agriculture, which boosts the economy. Fish are permitted to reproduce and flourish in protected marine zones, where they overflow into the areas that are fished. This helps to replenish the fished areas, allowing more fish to be caught and sold.
Similar to this, inland national parks allow the wild cousins of popular crops to flourish. This gives a variety of genetic materials for crop breeding and crop protection against crop failure or harm. Supporting agriculture is an important contribution to many countries’ economies because it is a $2.4 trillion business globally.
Again, at a more local level, farming is a major source of income for many towns that are close to national parks. For the reasons outlined above and by safeguarding rural areas that could otherwise be developed, national parks help these local economies.
6. Impacts on Health
National parks greatly assist in the promotion of both physical and mental wellness. Spending time outdoors and being active, whether climbing, hiking, or simply strolling around, is what visitors to national parks do.
Walking outside can enhance lung health, stimulate collagen synthesis to make you seem younger, raise vitamin D levels to prevent heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and prostate cancer, and help you lose weight.
A visit to a national park often entails walking between one and twenty kilometers, therefore it helps to raise activity levels.
7. Impacts on Mental Health
The benefits of being outdoors and in nature are equally significant for mental health. Anxiety and despair can be effectively treated by walking. Different brain regions are stimulated by being in nature, which calms the mind, and lowers the heart rate, and blood pressure.
Additionally, it lessens the signs of tension or rage. Walking in nature, and particularly activities like hiking, boost self-esteem and confidence, which have a significant impact on mental health.
Spending time in nature can help patients with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of sadness that only manifests during the winter, feel better because it exposes them to more sunlight and vitamin D, which also has other impacts on depression symptoms.
8. Social Connections
A trip to a national park with a group of people, a family, or a friend can assist to fortify such social ties and advance relationships. A trip to a national park can bring people together for a shared sense of wonder, fostering closer relationships.
Going on a hike or engaging in another activity can promote teamwork and cooperation, strengthening your connections. Even if you go alone, connecting with people who share your interests might be facilitated by visiting national parks.
In addition, several national parks have places of natural reverence. For instance, many Native American tribes hold Devil’s Tower in Wyoming as a sacred site, and Aboriginal communities in Australia hold Gunlam Falls as a sacred site. In some nations, sacred sites can be found in almost all of the national parks.
These locations are rich in cultural significance and can bolster local economies and social ties. They provide spaces for people to congregate, worship, or hold festivals, and taking care of these locations can give the local community a chance to come together.
Conclusion
The value of national parks can take many different forms. National parks are crucial for protecting the environment by supplying sustainable energy and reducing the effects of climate change, preserving biodiversity by supporting ecosystems and the flora within them, and for local and national economies by promoting tourism and safeguarding agriculture.
For those who visit national parks, they are also significant personally because they can enhance physical and mental well-being, foster social bonds through shared experiences, including religious experiences, and offer a chance to learn about how to lessen actions that might contribute to climate change.
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A passion-driven environmentalist by heart. Lead content writer at EnvironmentGo.
I strive to educate the public about the environment and its problems.
It has always been about nature, we ought to protect not destroy.