72 Countries Smaller Than Australia's Newest National Park

Mining ban leads to creation of five million hectare national park in Western Australia.

A new national park that will be the biggest in the country will soon be created in WA's Kimberley region.

Flickr: rodeime

As reported in the Busselton Mail, mining companies Rio Tinto and Alcoa Australia both agreed to give up their rights to mine in the precious wilderness area.

The proposed Kimberley National Park will include 175,000 hectares of land on the Mitchell Plateau.

"The Mitchell Plateau and the Mitchell Falls are spectacular and unique landscapes in Australia and will be the jewels in the crown of the new Kimberley National Park," WA premier Colin Barnett said.

The park will encompass the existing Prince Regent, Mitchell River and Lawley River national parks, as well as new marine parks along the coast.

Flickr: geoffwhalan

It's great news for the endangered animals in the region, such as the rough-scaled python, various turtles and the northern quoll.

Wildlife Explorer / Wikimedia Commons

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At 50,000 sq km, the new wilderness area will be bigger than these 72 countries:

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1. Slovakia (49,037 sq km)

2. Dominican Republic (48,67 sq km)

3. Estonia (45,227 sq km)

4. Denmark (43,094 sq km)

5. Netherlands (41,850 sq km)

6. Switzerland (41,284 sq km)

7. Bhutan (38,394 sq km)

8. Taiwan (36,193 sq km )

9. Guinea-Bissau (36,125 sq km)

10. Moldova (33,846 sq km)

11. Belgium (30,528 sq km)

12. Lesotho (30,355 sq km)

13. Armenia (29,843 sq km)

14. Solomon Islands (28,896 sq km)

15. Albania (28,748 sq km)

16. Equatorial Guinea (28,051 sq km)

17. Burundi (27,834 sq km)

18. Haiti (27,750 sq km)

19. Rwanda (26,338 sq km)

20. Macedonia (25,713 sq km)

21. Djibouti (23,200 sq km)

22. Belize (22,966 sq km)

23. El Slavador (21,041 sq km)

24. Israel (20,770 sq km)

25. Slovenia (20,273 sq km)

26. Fiji (18,272 sq km)

27. Kuwait (17,818 sq km)

28. Swaziland (17, 364 sq km)

29. East Timor (14, 874 sq km)

30. Bahamas (13,943 sq km)

31. Montenegro (13,812 sq km)

32. Vanuatu (12, 189 sq km)

33. Qatar (11,586 sq km)

34. Nagorno-Karabakh (11,458 sq km)

35. Gambia (11,295 sq km)

36. Jamaica (10,991 sq km)

37. Kosovo (10,887 sq km)

38. Lebanon (10,452 sq km)

39. Cyprus (9,251 sq km)

40. Palestine (6,220 sq km)

41. Brunei (5,765 sq km)

42. Trindiad and Tobago (5,130 sq km)

43. Cape Verde (4,033 sq km)

44. Samoa (2,842 sq km)

45. Luxembourg (2,586 sq km)

46. Mauritius (2,040 sq km)

47. Comoros (1,862 sq km)

48. São Tomé and Príncipe (964 sq km)

49. Kiribati (811 sq km)

50. Bahrain (765 sq km)

51. Dominica (751 sq km)

52. Tonga (747 sq km)

53. Singapore (716 sq km)

54. Federated States of Micronesia (702 sq km)

55. Saint Lucia (616 sq km)

56. Andorra (486 sq km)

57. Palau (459 sq km)

58. Seychelles (452 sq km)

59. Antigua and Barbuda (442 sq km)

60. Barbados (430 sq km)

61. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (389 sq km

62. Grenada (344 sq km)

63. Malta (316 sq km)

64. Maldives (300 sq km)

65. Saint Kitts and Nevis (261 sq km)

66. Marshall Islands (181 sq km)

67. Liechtenstein (160 sq km)

68. San Marino (61 sq km)

69. Tuvalu (26 sq km)

70. Nauru (21 sq km)

71. Monaco (2.02 sq km)

72. Vatican City (0.44 sq km)

It's enough to make Leslie Knope jealous.

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