This article refers to protected regions of environmental or cultural value. For the protected area of a cricket pitch, see cricket pitch. A Cricket pitch is the central strip of the Cricket field between the Wickets The pitch is 1 chain or 22 yards (20

Milford Sound, New Zealand: Mitre Peak, the mountain at left, rises 1692 meters above the Sound. Milford Sound ( Piopiotahi in Māori) is a Fiord in the south west of New Zealand 's South Island, within Fiordland New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Mitre Peak is an iconic mountain in the South Island of New Zealand.

Protected areas are locations which receive protection because of their environmental, cultural or similar value. A large number of kinds of protected area exist which vary by level of protection and by the enabling laws of each country or rules of international organization.

Definition

A protected area as defined by the IUCN (World Conservation Union) as;

"An area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means. '

Types

Arribes del Duero Natural Park (Salamanca and Zamora, Spain). Arribes del Duero and Douro Internacional covers 191255 ha making it one of the largest Protected areas in Europe Geography The city lies on a mountain by the Tormes River which is crossed by a bridge 150 m long built on 26 arches fifteen of which are of Roman origin, while Zamora is a city in Castile and León, Spain, the capital of the province of Zamora. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.

The IUCN specifies six categories of protected areas:

• I. Strict nature reserve/wilderness area: protected area managed mainly for science or wilderness protection
• II. nature reserve ( natural reserve, nature preserve, natural preserve) is a Protected area of importance for Wildlife, flora A wilderness area is a region where the land is in a natural state where impacts from human activities are minimal—that is as a Wilderness. National park: protected area managed mainly for ecosystem protection and recreation
• III. A national park is a reserve of land usually declared and owned by a national Government, protected from most Human development and pollution Natural Monument: protected area managed mainly for conservation of specific natural features
• IV. A Natural Monument is a natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance Habitat/Species Management Area: protected area managed mainly for conservation through management intervention
• V. Protected Landscape/Seascape: protected area managed mainly for landscape/seascape protection and recreation.
• VI. Managed Resource Protected Area: protected area managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems.

History

International commitments to the development of networks of protected areas date from 1972, when the Stockholm Declaration from the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment endorsed the protection of representative examples of all major ecosystem types as a fundamental requirement of national conservation programs. Since then, the protection of representative ecosystems has become a core principle of conservation biology, supported by key United Nations resolutions - including the World Charter for Nature 1982, the Rio Declaration 1992, and the Johannesburg Declaration 2002.

Globally, national programs for the protection of representative ecosystems have progressed with respect to terrestrial environments, with less progress in marine and freshwater biomes.

See also

• Applied ecology
• Category:Protected areas by country
• World Commission on Protected Areas

External links

• IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas
• World Database on Protected Areas