A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research. Nature reserves may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions, regardless of nationality. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws.
Nature reserves
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10Los Glaciares National Park
Los Glaciares National Park is a federal protected area in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The park covers an area of 726,927 ha, making it the largest national park in the country.
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9Lushan Quaternary Glaciation National Geopark
Lushan Geopark and Lushan National Park, are located in the Lu'shan—Mount Lu region of Jiangxi Province, in southwestern China. The protected area of 500 km² extends from the Yangtze River to the Lake Poyang basin.
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8Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley
The Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley is a glacial valley in the southeast of Andorra. The isolated valley is recognised as a haven for rare or endangered wildlife, and the undeveloped valley has recently been considered to be the "spiritual heart" of Andorra.
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10Mammoth Cave National Park
Mammoth Cave National Park is a U.S. national park in central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world.
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8Manas National Park
Manas National Park or Manas Wildlife Sanctuary is a national park, a Project Tiger reserve, an elephant reserve and a biosphere reserve in Assam, India. Located in the Himalayan foothills, it is contiguous with the Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan.
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10Manu National Park
Manu National Park is a biosphere reserve located in Madre de Dios and Paucartambo, Cusco.
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10Mesa Verde National Park
Mesa Verde National Park is a National Park and World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado. It protects some of the best preserved Ancestral Puebloan archeological sites in the United States.
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10Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is a United States national park located in the state of Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four basic regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west side temperate rainforest and the forests of the drier east side.
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9Ordesa Monte Perdido National Park
Ordesa Monte Perdido National Park situated in the Pyrenees of Huesca province, Aragon, Spain. There has been a National Park in the Ordesa Valley since 1918.
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7Orkhon Valley
Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape sprawls along the banks of the Orkhon River in Central Mongolia, some 320 km west from the capital Ulaanbaatar.
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5Padjelanta National Park
Padjelanta is a national park in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Established in 1963, it is the largest national park in Sweden with an area of 1,984 km2, and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Laponia established in 1996.
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10Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park
Phong Nha-Ke Bang is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Bo Trach and Minh Hoa districts of central Quang Bình Province in the North Central Coast region, about 500 km south of Hanoi.
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10Pirin National Park
Pirin National Park is a World Heritage national park that encompasses the larger part of the Pirin Mountains in the southwest of Bulgaria. It has an area of about 400 km² (150 sq mi) and lies at an altitude from 1,008 to 2,914 m (3,307–9,560 ft).
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10Plitvice Lakes National Park
Plitvice Lakes National Park is one of the oldest national parks in Southeast Europe and the largest national park in Croatia. In 1979, Plitvice Lakes National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage register.
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1Poloniny National Park
Poloniny National Park is a national park in northeastern Slovakia at the Polish and Ukrainian borders, in the Bukovské vrchy mountain range, which belongs to the Eastern Carpathians. It was created on 1 October 1997 with a protected area of 298.05 km² and a buffer zone of 109.73 km². Selected areas of the park are included into Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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10Redwood National and State Parks
The Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) are old-growth temperate rainforests located in the United States, along the coast of northern California. Comprising Redwood National Park (established 1968) and California's Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Parks (dating from the 1920s), the combined RNSP contain 133,000 acres (540 km²).
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6River Tsitsa headwaters
This natural monument is located in the southwestern part of Adygea. Its territory is the northern boundary of the Tertiary flora - Colchis boxwood, yew.
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10Sinharaja Forest Reserve
Sinharaja Forest Reserve is a national park and a biodiversity hotspot in Sri Lanka. It is of international significance and has been designated a Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
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4Slovak Karst National Park
Slovak Karst National Park is a national park in the Slovak Karst mountain range in South East Slovakia. It lies in the Gelnica, Roznava and Kosice-okolie districts in the Kosice region. The National Park covers an area of 346.11 km² and its buffer zone covers 117.41 km².
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4Srebarna Nature Reserve
The Srebarna Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in northeastern Bulgaria (Southern Dobruja), near the village of the same name, 18 km west of Silistra and 2 km south of the Danube. It comprises Lake Srebarna and its surroundings and is located on the Via Pontica, a bird migration route between Europe and Africa.
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6Stora Alvaret
>Stora Alvaret is a limestone barren plain on the island of Oland, Sweden. Because of the thin soil mantle and high pH levels, a great assortment of vegetation is found including numerous rare species.
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10Sundarbans
The Sundarbans is a natural region comprising southern Bangladesh and a small part in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world.
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8Talampaya National Park
Talampaya National Park is a national park located in the east/centre of La Rioja Province, Argentina. It was designated a provincial reserve in 1975, a national park in 1997, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.
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10Teide National Park
Mount Teide is a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain. Its 3,718 m summit is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlantic.
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10Thingvellir National Park
Thingvellir (Þingvellir), is a place in the administrative district of "Bláskógabyggð" in southwestern Iceland, near the Reykjanes peninsula and the Hengill volcanic area. Thingvellir is a site of historical, cultural, and geological importance and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland.
