Northeast Greenland National Park (Greenlandic: Kalaallit Nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq, Danish: Grønlands Nationalpark) is the world's largest national park and the 10th largest protected area (the only larger protected areas consist mostly of sea).[1] Established in 1974, the Northeast Greenland national park expanded to its present size in 1988. It protects 972,000km2 (375,000sqmi)[2] of the interior and northeastern coast of Greenland and is above the area of Tanzania, but is below the area of Egypt. This means that the national park is bigger than 166 of the world's 195 countries. It was the first national park to be created in the Kingdom of Denmark and remains Greenland's only national park. It is the northernmost national park in the world and the second-largest by area of any second-level subdivision of any country in the world, trailing only the Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut, Canada.
Originally established on 22 May 1974 from the northern, practically uninhabited part of the former Ittoqqortoormiit Municipality in Tunu (East Greenland), in 1988 the park was expanded by another 272,000km2 (105,000sqmi) to its present size, adding the northeastern part of the former county of Avannaa (North Greenland). In January 1977, it was designated an international biosphere reserve. The park is overseen by the Greenland Department of Environment and Nature. The historical research camps on the ice sheet—Eismitte and North Ice—fall within the boundaries of the present-day park.
Population
The park has no permanent human population, although 400 sites see occasional summertime use. In 1986, the population of the park was 40, living at Mestersvig. These 40 were involved in cleanup and closeout operations at mining exploration sites and soon left. Since then, censuses have recorded zero permanent human population. In 2008, only 31 people and about 110 dogs were present over winter in North East Greenland, distributed among the following stations (all on the coast, except Summit Camp):[3][4]