*** Welcome to piglix ***

Doñana National Park

Doñana National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Wetlands in Donana.jpg
Marshes of Doñana in Huelva province
Map showing the location of Doñana National Park
Map showing the location of Doñana National Park
Location within Spain
Location Huelva, Seville and Cádiz provinces - Andalusia, Spain
Coordinates 37°00′N 6°30′W / 37.000°N 6.500°W / 37.000; -6.500Coordinates: 37°00′N 6°30′W / 37.000°N 6.500°W / 37.000; -6.500
Area 543 km2 (210 sq mi)
Established 1969
Visitors 392,958 (in 2007)
Governing body Andalusian Autonomous Government
Type Natural
Criteria vii, ix, x
Designated 1994 (18th session)
Reference no. 685
State Party Spain
Region Europe and North America
Extensions 2005
Designated May 4, 1982

Doñana National Park is a natural reserve in Andalusia, southern Spain, in the provinces of Huelva and Seville. It covers 543 km2 (209.65 sq mi), of which 135 km2 (52.12 sq mi) are a protected area. The park is an area of marshes, shallow streams, and sand dunes in Las Marismas, the delta where the Guadalquivir River flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It was established as a nature reserve in 1969 when the World Wildlife Fund joined with the Spanish government and purchased a section of marshes to protect it. The eco-system has been under constant threat by the draining of the marshes, the use of river water to boost agricultural production by irrigating land along the coast, water pollution by upriver mining, and the expansion of tourist facilities. It is named after Doña Ana de Silva y Mendoza[] wife of the seventh Duke of Medina-Sidonia.

Doñana National Park has a biodiversity that is unique in Europe, although there are some similarities to the Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue of the Camargue river delta in France, with which Doñana Park is twinned. The park features a great variety of ecosystems and shelters wildlife including thousands of European and African migratory birds, fallow deer, Spanish red deer, wild boars, European badgers, Egyptian mongooses, and endangered species such as the Spanish imperial eagle and the Iberian lynx.


...
Wikipedia

...