The famous French writer Jules Renard once said: “On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it.” This also concerns pristine nature — the embodiment of earthly beauty, a prototype of God’s paradise; it is a sacred place, a site for purification from daily routine.
The term “national park” first appeared in the United States of America. On March 1, 1872, a special decree of the 18th US President Ulysses Grant created, “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people,” the world’s first park: the Yellowstone National Park (Wonder Land), with an area of 899,104 hectares. In 1890 two new national parks were set up in the US: Yosemite and Sequoia. In Europe the first national park appeared in Holland in 1905, then in Sweden (1909), in Switzerland (1914) and so on. As of today, according to the information of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), there are over 3,500 national parks with a total area of over 4 million square kilometers throughout the world.
Ukraine has 47 national natural parks (NNP). The oldest, the Carpathian Park, was created in 1980. It contains the country’s highest mountain, Hoverla (2,061 m), and is a beautiful example of the unique scenery and landscape of the Ukrainian Carpathians (with the enchanting mountain lakes of Maricheika and Nesamovyte and the magnificent mountain peaks of Brebeneskul, Petros, and Rebra). The Shatsk NNP in Volyn is home to Ukraine’s deepest lake Svitiaz; the primeval beech forests of the Uzhansk NNP are national treasures of Ukraine.
In the Pokuttia Carpathians, Kosiv district, the Hutsulshchyna NNP, with its picturesque mountain scenery, traditional art crafts, passionate singing and dancing, deserves special attention. It is a center of Hutsul culture and art. The Vyzhnytsky NNP in the Chernivtsi region covers the more modest mountain chains of the Bukovyna Carpathians, which roll in as waves on the hilly plains.
International environmental protection practice distinguishes between several models of national parks: American, Swiss, English, African, and Japanese.
The Swiss model is notable for its strictness. It can be compared with Ukraine’s natural reserves. As an example, let’s mention the first national park in Switzerland, Engandin, and its absolute protection regime. Alpine parks in France and Italy also belong to this class, as do most national parks in Finland, the Bavarian Forest in Germany, and Hohe Tauern in Austria. There is no recreation infrastructure in such parks, information and visitor centers can only be found at the entrance. Admission to such parks is free. The territory of these parks belongs to the state.
Wild fauna protection combined with animal behavior (etiology) studies is an important function of the African model of semi-open national parks subordinated to the state. Ecotourists are charged a fee for their visit. The territory is state property.
In the English model of (open) national parks the territory can be either public or private. Secondary ecosystems with non-root kinds of trees prevail. Tourist recreation functions are a priority. Traditional forms of forestry and agriculture are held in these parks. Similar national parks exist in England and Holland. The famous Hortobagy and Kiskunsag national parks in Hungary belong to this model as well.
The Japanese model of open national parks is a combination of the American one with an orientation toward Japanese traditions, with family leisure being a priority. On the territory of the park sacral objects can be found, notably Shintoist temples. Traditional Japanese religious rituals are honored here as nowhere else in the world. To organize such activities ecological and educational centers (in the European sense) are located near the sacral monuments, with an emphasis on preserving local nature, national traditions and religious sacred places. In Japan there are also marine national parks, where fishery is forbidden. Their goal is to protect marine ecosystems.
Now for Ukraine. The Yavoriv National Natural Park in the Lviv region — that’s an example of a national park! It is a traditional site for mass cultural and educational activities to honor, develop and enrich our national traditions, or to celebrate religious holidays. In this way it represents a chance to escape from the boredom and stupidity of national television.
National parks are no panacea for Ukraine’s problems, but they can revive the firm Ukrainian spirit, willpower and iron tenacity. The Ukrainian model of national park can be based on three conceptual substances: nature, the beauty, and uniqueness of natural landscapes; history, the originality and uniqueness of the historical environment; and religion, the holiness and sacredness of local architectural monuments and religious buildings. The countryside is always a leitmotif in a nation’s culture to which people turn to in times of crisis so as to reaffirm their choices.
The reserves must become sanctuaries, a kind of natural temples where the act of spiritual purification and union with the past and future, and nature takes place. People came from nature and now, at least in this form, they must maintain a spiritual connection with it, lest there spirits be impoverished.
The European Landscape Convention, adopted under the aegis of the Council of Europe (2000) and ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (2005), has a similar understanding of nature. This convention defines natural landscapes as “an essential component of the people’s surroundings, an expression of the diversity of their shared cultural and natural heritage, and a foundation of their identity.”
A small plot in Vydubychi in Kyiv is a virtual prototype of the Ukrainian model of a national park. The place there is unique, exemplary, perhaps one of the few in Ukraine where one can feel the breath of past epochs and generations. It carries within it the depth and wisdom of the ages.
