 | This article needs to be updated.(January 2023) |
There are numerous protected areas in Belgium with a wide variety of types, protection levels and sizes. The below list gives an overview of the most important protected areas.
| This article needs to be updated.(January 2023) |
There are numerous protected areas in Belgium with a wide variety of types, protection levels and sizes. The below list gives an overview of the most important protected areas.
There are currently five national parks in Belgium, De Hoge Kempen National Park opening in 2006. [1] [ dubious ]. In 2022 two national parks were designated in Wallonia: Parc National de L'Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse and Parc National de la Vallée de la Semois. In 2023 three national parks were designated in Flanders: Nationaal Park Scheldevallei, Nationaal Park Bosland and Nationaal Park Brabantse Wouden.
| Photo | Name | Founded in | Area (km2) |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Hoge Kempen National Park | 2006 | 127 |
 | L'Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse National Park | 2022 | 221.29 |
 | Vallée de la Semois National Park | 2022 | 290 |
 | Brabantse Wouden National Park | 2023 | |
 | Scheldevallei National Park | 2023 | |
 | Bosland National Park | 2023 |
There are many natural parks in Belgium, including 9 in Wallonia (called Parcs Naturels).
| Photo | Name | Founded in | Area (km2) | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Hohes Venn – Eifel Nature Park | 1978 | 720 | This natural park is a transboundary park between Belgium and Germany. |
 | Burdinale-Mehaigne Nature Park | 1991 | 110 | |
 | Two Ourthes Nature Park | 2001 | 760 | |
| Upper Sure Anlier Forest Nature Park | 2001 | 720 | ||
| Attert Valley Nature Park | 1994 | 70 | ||
| Viroin-Hermeton Nature Park | 1998 | 120 | ||
| Scheldt Plains Nature Park | 1996 | 260 | ||
| Hill Country Nature Park | 1997 | 233 | ||
 | Gaume Natural Park | 2014 | 581 | |
 | High Country Nature Park | 2002 | 157 | 11.5% (1,840 ha) is Natura 2000 [2] |
There are many tiny nature reserves, including:
There are currently five landscape parks all of whom where founded in 2023.
| Photo | Name | Founded in | Area (km2) |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Vlaamse Ardennen Landscape Park | 2023 | |
 | Zwinstreek Landscape Park | 2023 | |
 | Hart van Haspengouw Landscape Park | 2023 | |
 | Grenzeloos bocagelandschap Landscape Park | 2023 | |
 | Maasvallei Landscape Park | 2023 |
Wallonia, officially the Walloon Region, is one of the three regions of Belgium—along with Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the country, Wallonia is primarily French-speaking. It accounts for 55% of Belgium's territory, but only a third of its population. The Walloon Region and the French Community of Belgium, which is the political entity responsible for matters related mainly to culture and education, are independent concepts, because the French Community of Belgium encompasses both Wallonia and the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region but not the German-speaking Community of Belgium.
Anderlecht is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the Flemish municipalities of Dilbeek and Sint-Pieters-Leeuw. In common with all of Brussels' municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch).
Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not far from the border with France. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of 1,462 square kilometres (564 sq mi) with a total population of 522,522 by 1 January 2008, ranking it as the 5th most populous in Belgium after Brussels, Antwerp, Liège, and Ghent. The inhabitants are called Carolorégiens or simply Carolos.
La Mauricie National Park is a national park located near Shawinigan in the Laurentian mountains, in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada. It covers 536 km2 (207 sq mi) in the southern Canadian Shield region bordering the Saint Lawrence lowlands. The park contains 150 lakes and many ponds.
Louvain-la-Neuve is a planned town in the municipality of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallonia, Belgium, situated 30 km southeast of Brussels, in the province of Walloon Brabant. The town was built to house the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) which owns the entire territory of the town; following the linguistic quarrels that took place in Belgium during the 1960s, and Flemish claims of discrimination at the Catholic University of Leuven, the institution was split into the Dutch language Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, which remained in Leuven, and the Université catholique de Louvain.
Gatineau Park is a federal park located in the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. Administered by the National Capital Commission as part of the National Capital Region, Gatineau Park is a 361 square kilometres (139 sq mi) wedge of land extending north and west from the city of Gatineau. With a perimeter of 179.2 kilometres (111.3 mi), the park includes parts of the municipalities of Chelsea, Pontiac, La Pêche, and the City of Gatineau. The main entrance to the park is 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north of downtown Ottawa, Ontario.
Virunga National Park is a national park in the Albertine Rift Valley in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was created in 1925. In elevation, it ranges from 680 m (2,230 ft) in the Semliki River valley to 5,109 m (16,762 ft) in the Rwenzori Mountains. From north to south it extends approximately 300 km (190 mi), largely along the international borders with Uganda and Rwanda in the east. It covers an area of 8,090 km2 (3,120 sq mi).
Parc Astérix is a theme park in France based on the comic book series Asterix by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny. In 2023, the park welcomed over 2.8 million visitors, making it the 2nd most visited park in France behind Disneyland Paris and the 8th most visited park in Europe.
The Walloon Legion was a unit of the German Army (Wehrmacht) and later of the Waffen-SS recruited among French-speaking collaborationists in German-occupied Belgium during World War II. It was formed in the aftermath of the German invasion of the Soviet Union and fought on the Eastern Front alongside similar formations from other parts of German-occupied Western Europe.
The Campine or De Kempen is a natural region situated chiefly in north-eastern Belgium and parts of the south-eastern Netherlands which once consisted mainly of extensive moors, tracts of sandy heath, and wetlands. It encompasses a large northern and eastern portion of Antwerp Province and adjacent parts of Limburg in Belgium, as well as portions of the Dutch province of North Brabant and Dutch Limburg around Weert.
A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected natural area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscapes are preserved in their present ecological state and promoted for ecotourism purposes.
This is a list of landmarks of Montreal.
The Parc de la Tête d'or is a large urban park in Lyon, France, with an area of approximately 117 hectares. Located in the northern part of the 6th arrondissement, it features the Jardin botanique de Lyon, as well as a lake on which boating takes place during the summer months. Due to the relatively small number of other parks in Lyon, it receives a huge number of visitors over summer; it is a frequent destination for joggers and cyclists.
Banco National Park is a national park in Côte d'Ivoire located along Highway North in the district of Attécoubé (Abidjan). It is the only primary dense tropical forest located in the heart of an urban area with the Tijuca National Park in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
Hoge Kempen National Park is the first National Park in Flanders, Belgium. It is located in the Campine in the East of the Province of Limburg, between Genk and the river Meuse Valley. It includes the elevated ground that defines the watershed between that river and the low ground of the drainage basin of the river Demer that covers most of Belgian Limburg.
Guiana Amazonian Park is the largest national park of France, aiming at protecting part of the Amazonian forest located in French Guiana which covers 41% of the region. It is the largest park in France as well as the largest park in the European Union and one of the largest national parks in the world.
Ignace Schops is a Belgian environmentalist, a biodiversity, landscaping and herpetology expert. He is Director of the Belgian NGO Regionaal Landschap Kempen en Maasland (RLKM), and was the President of the largest network on the natural heritage in Europe, EUROPARC federation, from 2014 until 2021; and a full member of the EU chapter of Club of Rome.
Wales, a country that is part of the United Kingdom, contains protected areas under various designations. The largest designation by land area is Wales' three national parks, followed by the five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The Vercors Regional Natural Park is a protected area of forested mountains in the Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France.
The national parks of Quebec are provincial parks created by the government of Quebec to protect territories representative of natural regions of the province or sites of exceptional character, while making them accessible to the public for education and/or recreation. As of 2023, there are 28 such parks in Quebec, which protect an area of 42,765.57 kilometres (26,573.29 mi), or about 2.8% of the territory of the province. All but four parks are administered by the Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (Sépaq). Those four are administered by Nunavik Parks. In addition, Sépaq jointly administers a National Marine Conservation Area with Parks Canada as part of the country's national park system.
After years of campaigning, Ignace Schops has led the effort to establish Belgium's first and only national park.