Doñana National Park

Doñana National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Marshes of Doñana in Huelva province
Location within Spain
Location	Huelva, Seville and Cádiz provinces - Andalusia, Spain
Coordinates	37°00′N 6°30′W / 37.000°N 6.500°W / 37.000; -6.500Coordinates: 37°00′N 6°30′W / 37.000°N 6.500°W / 37.000; -6.500
Area	543 km2 (210 sq mi)
Established	1969
Visitors	392,958 (in 2007)
Governing body	Andalusian Autonomous Government
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Type	Natural
Criteria	vii, ix, x
Designated	1994 (18th session)
Reference no.	685
State Party	Spain
Region	Europe and North America
Extensions	2005
Ramsar Wetland
Designated	May 4, 1982

Doñana National Park is a natural reserve in Andalusia, southern Spain, in the provinces of Huelva and Seville. It covers 543 km² (209.65 sq mi), of which 135 km² (52.12 sq mi) are a protected area. The park is an area of marshes, shallow streams, and sand dunes in Las Marismas, the delta where the Guadalquivir River flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It was established as a nature reserve in 1969 when the World Wildlife Fund joined with the Spanish government and purchased a section of marshes to protect it. The eco-system has been under constant threat by the draining of the marshes, the use of river water to boost agricultural production by irrigating land along the coast, water pollution by upriver mining, and the expansion of tourist facilities. It is named after Doña Ana de Silva y Mendoza^[] wife of the seventh Duke of Medina-Sidonia.

Doñana National Park has a biodiversity that is unique in Europe, although there are some similarities to the Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue of the Camargue river delta in France, with which Doñana Park is twinned. The park features a great variety of ecosystems and shelters wildlife including thousands of European and African migratory birds, fallow deer, Spanish red deer, wild boars, European badgers, Egyptian mongooses, and endangered species such as the Spanish imperial eagle and the Iberian lynx.