List of national parks of Denmark

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National parks in Denmark (Northeast Greenland National Park not shown)

There are six national parks in the Kingdom of Denmark; five in Denmark proper and one in Greenland.

The first national park in Denmark proper was Thy National Park (Danish: Nationalpark Thy), created in 2008. It is located in Thisted Municipality, Nordjylland. The park is a narrow stretch of land along the North Jutlandic Island's west coast from Hanstholm southward to Agger Tange, excluding Hanstholm, Klitmøller, Nørre Vorupør, Stenbjerg and Agger. Thy National Park is named after Thy, an area that includes not only today's national park but also adjacent land further east. The park has dunes, heath, forests and grassland and also covers several small lakes and a small part of the Limfjord, which is the fjord that separates the North Jutlandic Island from the Cimbrian Peninsula.

In August 2009, the second national park Mols Bjerge National Park was inaugurated, followed by Wadden Sea National Park in October 2010,[1] and Land of the Scylding National Park in 2015.[2] Two additional areas in mainland Denmark were proposed in 2008 and 2009 to become national parks. One of these plans, Skjern Å Nationalpark (after the river of the same name), was abandoned in 2012, but it was restarted in 2018 and is ongoing.[3] The other, Kongernes Nordsjælland National Park, was inaugurated in 2018.[4]

In 2020, work began on establishing nature national parks.[5] These will strictly be on land owned by the Danish state, unlike the ordinary national parks where some parts are on private and municipal land. This gives the state greater control over the full area in the nature national parks and allows greater protection of the nature.[6] Fifteen nature national parks are planned, including five that are part of the original national parks (Gribskov within Kongernes Nordsjælland National Park, Hellerup Forest and Teglstrup Hegn within Kongernes Nordsjælland National Park, Bidstrup Forests within Land of the Scylding National Park, Mols Bjerge within Mols Bjerge National Park, and Hanstholm within Thy National Park).[5]

Greenland has had its own national park since 1974. The Northeast Greenland National Park stretches across three fifths of the northern parts of Greenland's east coast and, since its expansion in 1988, two thirds of the eastern parts of Greenland's north coast. Bounded by the coasts, the park covers the island's entire north-eastern quarter, all of which is almost uninhabited.[7]

Like Greenland, the Faroe Islands forms another autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark, but contains no national parks.

List of national parks in the Kingdom of Denmark
Image Name Danish name Region Area in km2 Establishment External link
Northeast Greenland National Park

[note 1]

Grønlands Nationalpark Northeast Greenland 972,000 1974 —
Thy National Park Nationalpark Thy Nordjylland 243.7 2008 SNS
Mols Bjerge National Park
(Mols Mountains) 		Nationalpark Mols Bjerge Midtjylland 180

[note 2]

2009 SNS
Wadden Sea National Park Nationalpark Vadehavet Southern Denmark 1,466 2010 SNS
Land of the Scylding National Park
(Land of the Scylding) 		Nationalpark Skjoldungernes Land Zealand 170[2] 2015 SNS
Kongernes Nordsjælland National Park Nationalpark Kongernes Nordsjælland Hovedstaden 262.5 2018[4][8] SNS

Footnotes

Notes

  1. ^ Official English name unknown. A WCMC web page uses “North-east Greenland National Park”. [1]
  2. ^ About 150 km² land and about 30 km² sea.

References

  1. ^ http://www.mim.dk/Nyheder/Pressemeddelelser/20101016_Indvielse_af_Nationalpark_Vadehavet.htm[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ a b Om Nationalpark Skjoldungernes Land
  3. ^ Hansen, Kåre Rolf (6 March 2019). "Her er kortet: Sådan skal Danmarks 6. nationalpark se ud". TV Midtvest. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Kongernes Nordsjælland". Danmarks Nationalparker. 24 March 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Naturnationalparkerne i Danmark". Naturstyrelsen, Danish Ministry of Environment. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  6. ^ "Nationalpark og Naturnationalpark, hvad er forskellen?". Naturstyrelsen, Danish Ministry of Environment. 23 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  7. ^ map of Greenland's protected areas Archived 2005-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Avisen.dk (15 December 2017). Nationalpark Kongernes Nordsjælland bliver nu til virkelighed.

External links

  • Danish Forest and Nature Agency's website on the national parks of mainland Denmark
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