Forlandet National Park

Forlandet National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Location	Prins Karls Forland, Svalbard, Norway
Coordinates	78°33′N 11°7′E
Area	4,647 km^2 (616 km^2 land, 4,031 km^2 sea)
Established	1973
Governing body	Directorate for Nature Management
Ramsar Wetland
Official name	Forlandsøyane
Designated	24 July 1985
Reference no.	313[1]

Forlandet National Park lies on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. The park was created by a royal resolution on 1 June 1973 and covers the entire island of Prins Karls Forland and well as the sea around it. The Norwegian national park has an area of 616 km² and a marine area of 4031 km².

This area is recognized for the world's most northerly range of stone seals and also the world's most northerly population of common guillemot. In the region there are numerous archeological remains from Norwegian and Russian hunters and whalers.

Forlandsøyane Bird Sanctuary inside the park has been recognised as a wetland of international importance by designation under the Ramsar Convention. The national park has also been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports breeding populations of barnacle geese, common eiders and black guillemots.^[2]

Walrus colony on Prins Karl Forland, photographed in 2003

References

1. "Forlandsøyane". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
2. "Forlandet National Park". Important Bird Areas factsheet. BirdLife International. 2013. Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved August 24, 2013.

Further reading

• (in Norwegian) Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management on Forlandet National Park