In Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, a natural park (Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

: parque natural) is a natural space protected for its biology, geology, or landscape, with ecological

Ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

, aesthetic, educational, or scientific value whose preservation merits preferential attention on the part of public administration. The regulation of the activities that may occur there attempts to assure its protection. Natural parks focus their attention on the conservation and maintenance of flora, fauna, and terrain. Natural parks may be maritime or terrestrial and can be in the mountains, along the coasts, in the desert, or any other geographically defined space.
Spain distinguishes natural parks from national parks. The categories of protected area

Protected area

Protected areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognised natural, ecological and/or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the enabling laws of each country or the regulations of the international...

s in Spain under Law 4/1989 are not based on higher or lower levels of protection, but on functions and characteristics:

• Parks: "natural areas, little transformed by human exploitation and occupation, that, for reason of the beauty of their landscapes, the representativeness of their ecosystems or their flora, fauna or geomorphological
  Geomorphology
  Geomorphology is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them...
  
   formations, possesses ecological
  Ecology
  Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
  
  , aesthetic, educational and scientific value, whose conservation merits preferential attention. A National Park is so designated because it is of national interest by reason of being representative of the natural heritage and that it includes some of the principal natural systems of Spain."

• Nature reserve
  Nature reserve
  A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
  
  s: "natural spaces whose creation has as its end the protection of ecosystem
  Ecosystem
  An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
  
  s, communities
  Biocoenosis
  A biocoenosis , coined by Karl Möbius in 1877, describes the interacting organisms living together in a habitat . This term is rarely used in English, as this concept has not been popularized in Anglophone countries...
  
   or biological elements that, because of their rarity, fragility, importance or singularity merit a special valuation."

• Natural monument
  Natural Monument
  A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance....
  
  s: "natural spaces or elements constituted basically by formations of notably singularity, rarity or beauty, that merit being the object of special protection."

• Protected Landscapes: "concrete places in the natural environment that, because of their aesthetic and cultural valuer, merit special protection."

The largest protected space in Spain, and also its largest natural park, is the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas Natural Park

Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas Natural Park

Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas Natural Park is a natural park in the eastern and northeastern part of the province of Jaén, Spain, established in 1986. With an area of , it is the largest protected area in Spain and the second largest in Europe. It was declared a biosphere reserve by...

 in the province

Provinces of Spain

Spain and its autonomous communities are divided into fifty provinces .In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian , sing. província.*Galician , sing. provincia.*Basque |Galicia]] — are not also the capitals of provinces...

 of Jaén, at the headwaters of the Guadalquivir

Guadalquivir

The Guadalquivir is the fifth longest river in the Iberian peninsula and the second longest river to be its whole length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is 657 kilometers long and drains an area of about 58,000 square kilometers...

. 9.1 percent of the surface area of Spain is protected, including 42 percent of the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

, 21.51 percent of Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

 and 18.92 percent of Andalusia

Andalusia

Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

, with lesser percentages in the other autonomous communities

Autonomous communities of Spain

An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...

. Andalusia, being far larger than the Canary Islands or Catalonia, has 36 percent of the total protected areas in the country.