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Doñana National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Wetlands in Doñana
Location within Spain
Location	Huelva, Seville and Cádiz provinces - Andalusia, Spain
Coordinates	37°00′00″N 6°30′00″W / 37°N 6.5°W / 37; -6.5Coordinates: 37°00′00″N 6°30′00″W / 37°N 6.5°W / 37; -6.5
Area	543 km²
Established	1969
Visitors	392,958 (in 2007)
Governing body	Andalusian Autonomous Government
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Type:	Natural
Criteria:	vii, ix, x
Designated:	1994 (18th session)
Reference #:	685
State Party:	Spain
Region:	Europe and North America
Extensions:	2005

Description[link]

Doñana National Park is located in Andalusia, in the provinces of Huelva and Seville, and covers 543 km²(337.41 mi²), of which 135 km²(83.89 mi²) are a protected area. The park is an area of marsh, shallow streams, and sand dunes in Las Marismas, the Guadalquivir River Delta region where it flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The original area was established in 1963 when the World Wildlife Fund joined with the Spanish government and purchased a section of marshes to protect it. There has been a constant threat to the eco-system, that of drainage of the marshes, the use of river water to boost agricultural production by irrigating land along the coast, and the expansion of tourist facilities.^[1]

In 2011, an archeological team proposed that the lost city of Atlantis was once located in what are now the swamps of the Doñana National Park having been destroyed by a tsunami.^[2]

Conservation[link]

In 1989 the surroundings of the national park were given more protection when a buffer zone was declared a natural park under the management of the regional government. The two parks, national and natural, have since been classified as a single natural landscape.

In 1994 UNESCO designated the park a World Heritage Site. UNESCO has also recognised the park as a Biosphere reserve. It is a wetland of international importance on the list of the Ramsar Convention.

The park has a biodiversity that is unique in Europe, although there are some similarities to the Camargue, with which Doñana is twinned. ^[3] Doñana contains a great variety of ecosystems and shelters wildlife including thousands of European and African migratory birds, fallow deer, Spanish red deer, wild boar, European badger, Egyptian mongoose, and endangered species such as the Spanish Imperial Eagle and Iberian Lynx.

dromedaries roamed the area. They may have been introduced during the Moorish Conquest of Spain in the 8th century, or they may have escaped from a herd introduced by the Marquis de Molina as beasts of burden in 1829.^[4][5] By the 1950s, there were only eight individuals left, and these were threatened by poachers.^[6]

Ecological Issues[link]

Pilgrims[link]

The park is used by pilgrims participating in the Romería de El Rocío. As this event is attracting a million pilgrims annually, it can have a negative impact on the park's eco-systems.

Mining pollution[link]

The park and its highly sensitive ecology were threatened in 1998 by a massive spill of metallic waste from a reservoir at the Aznalcollar mine into the Guadiamar River, which flows through the park; however, the spill was diverted into the Guadalquivir River, reprieving the park.

Impact of agriculture[link]

In 2007, World Wildlife Fund warned that strawberry farms surrounding the park, where 95% of Spanish strawberries were produced, threatened to cause catastrophic damage to the park by depleting the surrounding groundwater, notably where illegal boreholes were involved, as well as creating considerable pesticide pollution and plastic waste which was accumulating in local creeks; AFP further reported that WWF was calling for a boycott of Spanish strawberries,^[7] but this is contradicted by the remarks of a WWF-Spain spokesperson,^[8] and it is uncharacteristic of WWF to call for blanket boycotts.

Notable Wildlife[link]

• 

  Ruddy Shelduck.

• 

  Purple Heron.

• 

  Avocet chick.

• 

  Cormorants in the coast of Guadalquivir.

• 

  Iberian Lynx, one of the most emblematic species in the park.

A proposed location of the lost city of Atlantis[link]

In 2011, a team of American archeologists claimed that they have found the location of the lost city of Atlantis located in the Marisma de Hinojos in the centre of the park, where its location has been predicted in 2004.^[9] The site is approximately 5 miles inland from the coast, and is located under the mudflats in the park (Coordinates 36.951915,-6.389154).^[10] The archeologists suggest that a giant tsunami wiped the city off the map. They further pointed to "memorials" around the location, which are archeological sites with similarities to the Atlantean legend. The archeologists made the claim that these sites were founded by survivors of the disaster. Experts' investigations are ongoing. The archeologists' claims were shown in a special of the National Geographic Channel on March 13, 2011.^[11][12]

See also[link]

• List of Sites of Community Importance in Andalusia
• Costa de la Luz
• List of Spanish national parks
• Tartessos

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Doñana, Spain's Wildlife Wilderness, Juan Antonio Fernández, Taplinger Publishing Company, New York, 1974, hardcover, 253 pages, ISBN 0-8008-8324-1
• Where to watch birds in Doñana by Jorge Garzón , Francisco Chiclana. (2006) Published by [Lynx Edicions] ISBN 978-84-96553-20-0
• Where to watch birds in Spain. The 100 best sites by José Antonio Montero & SEO/BirdLife (2006). Published by Lynx Edicions,ISBN 978-84-96553-04-0

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Doñana National Park

• http://www.andalucia.com/environment/protect/donana.htm
• Doñana Biological Station CSIC
• (Spanish)Parque Nacional de Doñana (Spanish Environment Ministry)
• (Spanish)Doñana: National Park and Natural Park (Regional Government)
• CNN report on the 1998 spill
• Official UNESCO website entry

v t e World Heritage Sites in Spain For official site names, see each article or the List of World Heritage Sites in Spain. North West Caves of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain1 · Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of the Asturias · Roman Walls of Lugo · Route of Santiago de Compostela1 · Santiago de Compostela · Tower of Hercules North East Caves of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain1 · Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon · Pyrénées - Mont Perdu2 · Rock-Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula1 · Route of Santiago de Compostela1 · San Millán Yuso and Suso Monasteries · Vizcaya Bridge  · Cave of Altxerri  · Cave of Santimamiñe  · Cave of Ekain Community of Madrid Aranjuez Cultural Landscape · El Escorial · University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá de Henares Centre Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida · Archaeological Site of Atapuerca · Ávila with its Extra-mural Churches · Burgos Cathedral · Cáceres · Cuenca · Las Médulas · Rock-Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula1 · Route of Santiago de Compostela1 · Salamanca · Santa María de Guadalupe · Segovia and its Aqueduct · Toledo · Prehistoric Rock-Art Sites in the Côa Valley and Siega Verde East Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco, Tarragona · Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de Boí · Ibiza (Biodiversity and Culture) · Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona · Palmeral of Elche · Poblet Monastery · Rock-Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula1 · Silk Exchange in Valencia · Works of Antoni Gaudí South Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada · Cathedral, Alcázar and Archivo de Indias, Seville · Córdoba · Doñana · Renaissance Monuments of Úbeda and Baeza · Rock-Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula1 Canary Islands Garajonay · San Cristóbal de La Laguna · Teide National Park 1 Shared with other region/s · 2 Shared with France

v t e National Parks of Spain National parks Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici Atlantic Islands of Galicia Cabañeros Cabrera Archipelago Caldera de Taburiente Doñana Garajonay Monfragüe Ordesa y Monte Perdido Picos de Europa Sierra Nevada Tablas de Daimiel Teide Timanfaya Proposed Guadarrama

An elephant safari through the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary in West Bengal, India

The Teide National Park in Tenerife (Spain).

A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently (for example, see Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in the United States^[1]), an international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and its World Commission on Protected Areas, has defined National Parks as its category II type of protected areas. While ideas for this type of national park had been suggested previously, the United States established the first such one, Yellowstone National Park, in 1872. The largest national park in the world meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park, which was established in 1974. According to the IUCN, there were 6,555 national parks worldwide in 2006 that meet its criteria.^[2]

Definitions[link]

Landsat 7 image of Kavir National Park, Iran.