Protected Areas
There are a significant number of protected areas in the world today, but their creation has occurred only relatively recently. The designation of protected areas can be linked back to the Romantic Movement in England and continental Europe (Mason, 2016). A related movement in the USA also contributed significantly to the establishment of pro- tected areas there. As indicated in Chapter 3, until the latter part of the 18th century, large areas of the natural landscape were not looked upon as having much potential for human use. So mountain regions, such as the Alps, were viewed as a barrier to communication and transport, and similarly uplands and mountain areas in the UK were viewed as offering little scope for economic use, except possibly sheep farming. This chapter indicates that the first protected areas were established in the USA, provides a case study of the very first national park, Yellowstone Park, and discusses the issues that can arise when the designation as a park acts as form of marketing and leads to increasing numbers of visitors with the related impacts. The chapter also discusses changing concepts of the term ‘wilderness’, the implications of this and provides a case study of the largest and most remote wilderness on earth, Antarctica.