Special Release

18 maj 2015 no status More than a third of is recognized to be nature conservation areas of Natura 2000 European day of parks In Europe 24 May has been the Day of Parks since 1999. It marks the parks and protected areas across Europe with a common objective: to bring nature closer to people and to raise awareness of preserving the natural beauty of protected areas and ensure their sustainable management.

The initiative to celebrate the European Day of Parks was given by EUROPARC Federation, which is recognised around the world as a professional network of European Protected Areas, namely the national and natural parks. Their common objective is to protect Europe's unique diversity of wildlife, habitats and landscapes by linking national and regional parks, nature reserves, marine and terrestrial protected landscapes and Natura 2000 sites in 36 European countries.

As regards the share of protected areas, Slovenia is first among EU Member States

Slovenia is a country with extremely rich biodiversity that is kept and maintained through a variety of mechanisms such as legal regulations, development documents, funding and public awareness. With the instruments for the protection of nature, the conservation measures are implemented, such as the establishment and management of protected areas and special protection of the Natura 2000 areas, natural features and ecologically important areas and protection of endangered plant and animal species.

As elsewhere in the EU, in Slovenia the Natura 2000 network was set up to preserve the biodiversity. There are special nature protection areas designated for the conservation of fauna and flora and the habitats that are rare at the European level or are at risk due to human activity. Among the EU-28 Member States, Slovenia ranks at the top with almost 38% of the area included in the Natura 2000 network. Slovenia’s share is almost five times larger than that of Denmark, ranking the lowest.

Slovenian parks recognised also internationally

According to the Slovenian Environment Agency, there are, within large protected areas, in Slovenia one national park, three regional parks and 46 landscape parks that were proclaimed as such either by national or by municipal acts. Some of the natural values ​​that lie within the parks are classified in different lists of international importance due to their exceptional nature. The list of Ramsar wetlands of international importance (defined by the Ramsar Convention) for instance includes Sečoveljske soline (Sečovlje Salina), Cerkniško jezero ( ) and Škocjanske jame (Škocjan caves). The latter were, together with the with the National Park and the Kozjansko Regional Park, declared a biosphere reserve by the UNESCO "Man and the Biosphere Programme". Škocjanske jame got listed on the UNESCO list of world natural and cultural heritage in 1986, yet in the recent years it has been expanded also by the prehistoric pile dwellings (in Slovene: kolišča) on Ljubljansko barje (the Marshes) as part of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps.

The biggest, oldest, highest … superlatives in the Slovenian parks

Slovenian parks hide numerous natural values, from individual trees to underground caves, , marshes, the coastline, etc.; many of them are superlatives, not only on the Slovenian territory, but also internationally. Thus our only national park called The is also the biggest Slovenian park. It covers about 840 km2 or 4% of Slovenia. The highest Slovenian summit of Mount Triglav (2,864 m) lies in the heart of this park, after which it was named. As it was first protected as early as 1924, when the Alpine Conservation Park was founded in the area of ​​the , the Triglav National Park is considered to be one of the oldest parks in Europe. It also features the oldest tree, the largest natural lake

Published on: http://www.stat.si/StatWeb/en/News/Index/5195, printed on 25. 9. 2021. 1/2 and the highest lake in Slovenia. The oldest tree in Slovenia is the larch tree which grows in the valley of Mala Pišnica; it is estimated to be between 800 and 1,000 years old. Bohinjsko jezero (Lake ) is our largest permanent natural lake (3.2 km 2), while Krnsko jezero (Lake Krn) is the largest Alpine lake in Slovenia (about 380 m long and 120-150 m wide) and Zgornje Kriško jezero (the upper of the Kriška jezera lakes) is the highest Slovenian lake, located at 2,154 m above sea level.

The Slovenian parks are renowned also for many other attractions, such as the largest marsh in Slovenia called Ljubljansko barje () across which runs the river with the highest number of names in Slovenia – as many as seven: Trbuhovica, , Stržen, , , and . Other special attractions of the Slovenian parks are: the largest intermittent lake in Europe called Cerkniško jezero (), the largest natural bridge in Slovenia in the valley of Rakov Škocjan and the Strunjan cliff; with its 80 meters it is the highest cliff along the entire Adriatic coast and the longest part of the natural coastline throughout the Tržaški zaliv (Gulf of Trieste).

More in: Jeseničnik, T. (2008). Slovenija v presežnikih. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga

Map 1: Some of superlatives in Slovenian natural parks

Sources: SURS, ARSO, GURS

Author/s: Mojca Merc

Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia Litostrojska cesta 54, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Information Centre: phone: +386 1 241 64 04 fax: +386 1 241 53 44 [email protected] www.stat.si/en © Statistični urad Republike Slovenije Use and publication of data is allowed provided the source is acknowledged.

Published on: http://www.stat.si/StatWeb/en/News/Index/5195, printed on 25. 9. 2021. 2/2