List of national parks of Belarus

This is a list of national parks of Belarus. It also lists main nature reserves.

There are currently four national parks in Belarus. The Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park is a trans-boundary park between Belarus and Poland. Together parks cover more than 3,300 km2 (1,300 sq mi).

History[edit]

While all four national parks in Belarus were established in the 1990s, the first protected nature reserve (zapovednik) of the country dates back to 1925 during the Belorussian SSR. Reserves in Belarus were subject to many changes and reforms during the time of the Soviet environmental management system, notably during the 40s and 50s when the Soviet Government revised the regulations around the exploitation of natural resources on protected land. [1]

Following the Chernobyl disaster in the 1986, a new category of protected reserve was created for the Polesie State Radiological and Ecological Reserve which indicated a large zone of southern Belarus impacted by the radioactive fallout of the distaster.

It wasn't until after the fall of the Soviet Union that Belarus would officially designate national parks, largely based on former Soviet zapovedniki.

National parks[edit]

Braslaw Lakes
Belavezhskaya Pushcha
Name Belarusian name Region Area Established
Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park Нацыянальны парк "Белавежская пушча" Brest Region and Grodno Region 1,500.69 km2 (579.42 sq mi) 1991 (1932)
Braslau Lakes National Park Нацыянальны парк "Браслаўскiя азёры" Vitebsk Region 691.15 km2 (266.85 sq mi) 1995
Prypyatski National Park Нацыянальны парк "Прыпяцкi" Gomel Region 858.41 km2 (331.43 sq mi) 1996
Narachanski National Park Нацыянальны парк "Нарачанскi" Grodno Region, Minsk Region and Vitebsk Region 1,178.00 km2 (454.83 sq mi) 1999
Polesie State Radiological and Ecological Reserve Палескі дзяржаўны радыялагічна-экалагічны запаведнік South of Belarus 1,313 km2

(507 sq mi)

1988

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Novikau, Aliaksandr (2021-04-01). "The evolution of the natural protected areas system in Belarus: From communism to authoritarianism". Global Ecology and Conservation. 26: e01486. doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01486. ISSN 2351-9894.

External links[edit]