The PAN Parks Foundation was a non-governmental organisation that aimed to protect

Europe 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 Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

es. The foundation filed for bankruptcy in May 2014 in The Netherlands, but was denied the status by the court and is currently in liquidation.

Details

The PAN Parks Foundation was founded in 1998 by the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

and the Dutch travel company Molecaten, with the aim of creating national parks in Europe, along the model of the

Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

and

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

s in North America. The organisation aims to create a network of European wilderness areas where wilderness and high quality tourism facilities are balanced with environmental protection and

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

local development. It attempts to achieve this through a process of auditing and verification, enabling it to certify parks owned by partners as meeting particular standards, combined with political advocacy on the local and European level.

List of PAN Certified parks

Central Balkan National Park The Central Balkan National Park ( bg, Национален парк Централен Балкан) lies in the heart of Bulgaria, nestled in the central and higher portions of the Balkan Mountains. Its altitude varies from 550 m. near the town ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

# Fulufjället National Park,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Majella National Park Maiella National Park ( it, Parco Nazionale della Maiella) is a national park located in the provinces of Chieti, Pescara and L'Aquila, in the region of Abruzzo, Italy. It is centered on the Maiella massif, of which Monte Amaro is the highest pea ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

# Oulanka National Park,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

# Paanajärvi National Park,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

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 ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Rila National Park Rila National Park ( bg, Национален парк „Рила“) is the largest national park in Bulgaria spanning an area of in the Rila mountain range in the south-west of the country. History It was established on 24 February 1992 to ...

Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park The Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park (BKNP) ( ka, ბორჯომ-ხარაგაულის ეროვნული პარკი, ''borjom-kharagaulis erovnuli parki'') is a protected area in central Georgia, in Samtskhe-Javakheti sit ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

# Southwestern Archipelago National Park,

Peneda-Gerês National Park The Peneda-Gerês National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês, ), also known simply as Gerês, is a national park located in northern Portugal. Created in May 1971, it is the oldest protected area and the only national park in Portugal. ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

# Soomaa National Park,

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

Dzūkija National Park __NOTOC__ Dzūkija National Park - a national park in Dzūkija, Lithuania, was established in 1991 in order to preserve the pine forests, the landscape, and the villages of the region. The area encompasses 584.53 square kilometers on the banks ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

# Čepkēliai Reserve, Lithuania # Küre Mountains National Park,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

References

Environmental organizations based in Europe Protected areas of Europe Wilderness {{environment-stub