The European Diploma of Protected Areas, established in 1965, is a

diploma A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offici ...

awarded by the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

s (natural or semi-natural) of exceptional

Europea Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

n conservational interest. It is awarded for a five-year period at a time and is renewable. Over 60 areas in 23 states have received the award so far.

Awarded areas

;Armenia *

Khosrov Forest State Reserve Khosrov Forest State Reserve ( hy, Խոսրովի անտառ պետական արգելոց), is a nature reserve in Ararat Province of Armenia. The reserve is one of the oldest protected areas in the world having a history of about 1700 years. ...

;Austria * Krimmler Wasserfälle *

Thayatal National Park Thayatal National Park (german: Nationalpark Thayatal) is a 13.3 km2 Austrian national park located in the Lower Austrian border area with the Czech Republic. It connects to the Czech Podyjí National Park. The Thayatal with its steep hil ...

Wachau The Wachau () is an Austrian valley with a picturesque landscape formed by the Danube river. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations of Lower Austria, located midway between the towns of Melk and Krems that also attracts "connoiss ...

;Belarus * Berezinsky Nature Reserve ;Belgium *

Hautes Fagnes The High Fens (german: Hohes Venn; french: Hautes Fagnes; nl, Hoge Venen), which were declared a nature reserve in 1957, are an upland area, a plateau region in Liège Province, in the east of Belgium and adjoining parts of Germany, between the ...

;Czech Republic *

Biele Karpaty Protected Landscape Area White Carpathians Protected Landscape Area ( sk, Chránená krajinná oblasť Biele Karpaty) is one of the Protected areas of Slovakia#Protected Landscape Areas, 14 protected landscape areas in Slovakia. The Landscape Area protects the Slovak part ...

* Karlštejn National Nature Reserve * Podyjí ;Estonia *

Matsalu National Park Matsalu National Park (previously Matsalu Nature Reserve, et, Matsalu rahvuspark, often just Matsalu) is a nature reserve and national park situated in Lääne and Pärnu Counties, Estonia. Matsalu National Park spans an area of , comprising ...

;Finland *

Ekenäs Archipelago National Park Ekenäs Archipelago National Park ( sv, Ekenäs skärgårds nationalpark, fi, Tammisaaren saariston kansallispuisto) is situated in the Ekenäs archipelago, in the Uusimaa region of Finland. It was established in 1989 and covers . The park is m ...

Seitseminen National Park Seitseminen National Park ( fi, Seitsemisen kansallispuisto) is located in the municipalities of Ikaalinen and Ylöjärvi in Finland. The national park was established in 1982 and later expanded in 1989. It now covers . The park is a typical mix o ...

;France *

Camargue Camargue (, also , , ; oc, label= Provençal, Camarga) is a region of France located south of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône delta. The eastern arm is called the ''Grand Rhône''; the western one is the ''P ...

National Reserve *

Écrins National Park Écrins National Park (french: parc national des Écrins, ; oc, parc Nacional dels Escrinhs) is a French national park located in the southeastern part of France in the Dauphiné Alps south of Grenoble and north of Gap, shared between the dep ...

Mercantour National Park Mercantour National Park (french: Parc national du Mercantour) a French national park located in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Alpes-Maritimes departments. Since it was created in 1979, the park has proven popular, with 800,000 visitors annu ...

Port-Cros National Park Port-Cros National Park (french: Parc national de Port-Cros) is a French national park established on the Mediterranean island of Port-Cros, east of Toulon. It also administers natural areas in some surrounding locales. History The park was fo ...

Scandola Nature Reserve The Scandola Nature Reserve is located on the west coast of the French island of Corsica, within the Corsica Regional Park. The reserve was established in 1975. The park and reserve has been recognized by the United Nations as a Natural UNESC ...

Vanoise National Park Vanoise National Park (french: Parc national de la Vanoise) is a French national park between the Tarentaise and Maurienne valleys in the French Alps, containing the Vanoise massif. It was created in 1963 as the first national park in France. ...

;Germany *

Bavarian Forest The village of Zell in the Bavarian Forest The Bavarian Forest (German: ' or ''Bayerwald''; bar, Boarischa Woid) is a wooded, low-mountain region in Bavaria, Germany that is about 100 kilometres long. It runs along the Czech border and is con ...

National Park *

Berchtesgaden National Park Berchtesgaden National Park is in the south of Germany, on its border with Austria, in the municipalities of Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden and Schönau am Königsee, Berchtesgadener Land, Free State of Bavaria. The national park was established in 197 ...

Lüneburg Heath Lüneburg Heath (german: Lüneburger Heide) is a large area of heath, geest, and woodland in the northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen a ...

Nature Reserve *

German-Luxembourg Nature Park The German-Luxembourg Nature Park (german: Deutsch-Luxemburgische Naturpark) is a cross-border nature park, which was established on 17 April 1964 by state treaty between the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Grand Duchy of Luxem ...

Siebengebirge The (), occasionally Sieben Mountains or Seven Mountains, are a hill range of the German Central Uplands on the east bank of the Middle Rhine, southeast of Bonn. Description The area, located in the municipalities of Bad Honnef and Königswin ...

Nature Reserve * Weltenburger Enge Nature Reserve *

Wollmatinger Ried The nature reserve of Wollmatinger Ried – Untersee – Gnadensee is a protected area on the shores of Lake Constance in Germany. It has an area of 767 hectares and is the largest and most important nature reserve on the German side of Lake Cons ...

Nature Reserve * Wurzacher Ried Nature Reserve ;Greece * Cretan White Mountains National Park (Samaria) ;Hungary *

Ipolytarnóc Ipolytarnóc ( sk, Ipeľský Trnovec) is a village in Hungary, Nógrád county. There is a fossil site close to it, the Ipolytarnoc Fossils Nature Conservation Area. Fossils Sometimes referred to as the "Prehistoric Pompeii", Ipolytarnóc is the ...

Nature Conservation Area * Szenas Hills Protected Area *

Tihany Tihany /ˈtihɒɲ/ is a village on the northern shore of Lake Balaton on the Tihany Peninsula (Hungary, Veszprém County). The whole peninsula is a historical district. The center of the district is the Benedictine Tihany Abbey, which was founde ...

peninsula ;Italy *

Gran Paradiso National Park Gran Paradiso National Park (Italian: ''Parco nazionale del Gran Paradiso''; ), is an Italian national park in the Graian Alps, between the Aosta Valley and Piedmont regions. The park is named after Gran Paradiso mountain, which is located in the ...

Maremma The Maremma (, ; from Latin , "maritime and) is a coastal area of western central Italy, bordering the Tyrrhenian Sea. It includes much of south-western Tuscany and part of northern Lazio. It was formerly mostly marshland, often malarial, but ...

Nature Park *

Maritime Alps The Maritime Alps (french: Alpes Maritimes ; it, Alpi Marittime ) are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between the regions of France, French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and the regions of Italy ...

Nature Park *

Montecristo Island Montecristo, also Monte Cristo (, ) and formerly Oglasa ( grc, Ὠγλάσσα, Ōglássa), is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea and part of the Tuscan Archipelago. Administratively it belongs to the municipality of Portoferraio in the province o ...

Nature Reserve *

Parco naturale di Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli Parco can refer to: * Parco, Tibet, a town in China * Parco (retailer), a chain of department stores primarily in Japan * Parco Historic District (also known as Sinclair Historic District), Sinclair, Wyoming, United States * Parco P.I., a real ...

Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park (Italian: ''Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise'') is an Italian national park established in 1923. The majority of the park is located in the Abruzzo region, with smaller parts in Lazio and Molise. It ...

Sasso Fratino Sasso means stone in Italian. Notable people with the surname include: * Ana Sasso (born c.1963), Croatian former beauty pageant contestant and model * Cinzia Sasso (born 1956), Italian journalist *Guidina Dal Sasso (born 1958), Italian cross countr ...

Integral Nature Reserve ;Luxemburg *

; Netherlands * De Boschplaat * Weerribben *

Oostvaardersplassen The Oostvaardersplassen () is a nature reserve in the Netherlands, managed by the ''Staatsbosbeheer'' (state forestry service). Covering about in the province of Flevoland, it is an experiment in rewilding.Oostvaardersplassen is discussed, for ex ...

* Naardermeer ;Poland *

Białowieża Forest Białowieża Forest; lt, Baltvyžių giria; pl, Puszcza Białowieska ; russian: Беловежская пуща, Belovezhskaya Pushcha is a forest on the border between Belarus and Poland. It is one of the last and largest remaining pa ...

Bieszczady National Park Bieszczady National Park (; pl, Bieszczadzki Park Narodowy) is the third-largest national park in Poland, located in Subcarpathian Voivodeship in the extreme southeast corner of the country. In 2021, the national park became a UNESCO World Heri ...

;Romania *

Danube Delta The Danube Delta ( ro, Delta Dunării, ; uk, Дельта Дунаю, Deľta Dunaju, ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Ro ...

* Piatra Craiului National Park *

Retezat National Park The Retezat National Park ( ro, Parcul Naţional Retezat) is a protected area (national park category II IUCN) located in the Retezat Mountains in Hunedoara county, Romania. Description Containing more than sixty peaks over and over hundred c ...

;Russia * Oka National Biosphere Reserve *

Kostomuksha Kostomuksha (russian: Костому́кша; krl, Koštamuš; fi, Kostamus; vep, Kostamukš) is a town in the northwest of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located from the border with Finland, on the shore of Lake Kontoki. Population: Geo ...

Strict Nature Reserve * Teberda National Reserve * Tsentralno-Chernozemny Biosphere Reserve ;Slovakia *

Poloniny National Park Poloniny National Park ( sk, Národný park Poloniny) is a national park in northeastern Slovakia at the Polish and Ukrainian borders, in the Bukovské vrchy mountain range, which belongs to the Eastern Carpathians. It was created on 1 October 1 ...

* Dobrocsky National Nature Reserve ;Slovenia *

Triglav National Park Triglav National Park (TNP) ( sl, Triglavski narodni park) is the only national park in Slovenia. It was established in its modern form in 1981 and is located in the northwestern part of the country, respectively the southeastern part of the Alp ...

;Spain *

Doñana National Park Doñana National Park or Parque Nacional y Natural de Doñana is a natural reserve in Andalucía, southern Spain, in the provinces of Huelva (most of its territory), Cádiz and Seville. It covers , of which are a protected area. The park is an ...

Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park The Ordesa Valley is a glacial valley in Aragon, in the Spanish Pyrenees which forms part of the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park. It was first discovered in 1820, but not mapped in detail until approximately the 1920s. The valley is about ...

Teide Teide, or Mount Teide, ( es, El Teide, Pico del Teide, , "Peak of Teide") is a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain. Its summit (at ) is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlan ...

;Sweden *

Muddus Muddus (; smj, Muttos) is a national park in northern Sweden. It is situated in the province Lapland, with its largest part in the Gällivare Municipality. Furthermore, it belongs to the largely untouched UNESCO World Heritage classified Laponian ...

Sarek National Park Sarek National Park ( sv, Sareks nationalpark) is a national park in Jokkmokk Municipality, Lapland in northern Sweden. Established in 1909, the park is the oldest national park in Europe. It is adjacent to two other national parks, namely Stor ...

Store Mosse National Park Store Mosse ("Big Marsh") is a national park in Småland in southern Sweden, located in the municipalities of Vaggeryd, Gnosjö and Värnamo. In total Store Mosse covers some ; of these, some were designated national park in 1983. It has th ...

* Bullerö Nature Reserve ;Switzerland *

Swiss National Park The Swiss National Park ( rm, Parc Naziunal Svizzer; german: Schweizerischer Nationalpark; it, Parco Nazionale Svizzero; french: Parc National Suisse) is located in the Western Rhaetian Alps, in eastern Switzerland. It is within the canton o ...

;Turkey * Kuşcenneti National Park ;Ukraine *

Carpathian Biosphere Reserve Carpathian Biosphere Reserve ( uk, Карпатський біосферний заповідник) is a biosphere reserve that was established as a nature reserve in 1968 and became part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves of UNESCO in 1 ...

;United Kingdom *

Peak District National Park Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-di ...

* Minsmere Nature Reserve *

Beinn Eighe Beinn Eighe () is a mountain massif in the Torridon area of Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. Lying south of Loch Maree, it forms a long ridge with many spurs and summits, two of which are classified as Munros: Rua ...

National Nature Reserve * Purbeck Heritage Coast *

Fair Isle Fair Isle (; sco, Fair Isle; non, Friðarey; gd, Fara) is an island in Shetland, in northern Scotland. It lies about halfway between mainland Shetland and Orkney. It is known for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting. Th ...

National Scenic Area

External links

The European Diploma of Protected Areas
(the Council of Europe) Protected areas of Europe {{Protected-area-stub