National Parks

2 Pages 460 Words

National parks play a major role in protecting and managing our environment by preserving the current state of Australia and the rest of the world. National parks protect species of flora and fauna as well as protecting the soil and waterways. They provide a habitat and environment for natural species without human interference. National parks are important for our future because if some species are depleted or become extinct they will endanger our survival.

In 1879 the first national park was declared near Sydney (Royal National Park). Since then the number of national parks in Australia has boomed. Setting aside areas of national park is designed to:-

· Provide a habitat and environment for native species.
· Allow visitors to enjoy outdoor activities such as abseiling bushwalking, canoeing, orienteering, mountaineering and rock-climbing.
· Preserve historic sites in their original beauty such as aboriginal sites.
· Allow flora and fauna to exist in their natural environment without human interference.
· Offer educational experiences for all visitors, as well as catering for scientific study and research groups.
· Keep soil and waterways in their pristine conditions.

There are over 500 national parks in Australia, which include all of the above in their programs. Only 2.4% of Australia is designated national park; hopefully in years to come this will grow to a reasonable amount.

National parks are usually proclaimed because of unusual natural beauty, historical value, scientific value, educational purposes, leisure activities or (contrary to what some people think) they have no other use. National parks provide all these promoting careful management of our environment. Without certain species problems will begin to arise as demonstrated in the following chart.

A certain plant species die due to industrial waste being dumped in the forests or rivers.

Certain worm species have nothing to eat bec...