Today there are about 5,000 nature reserves comprising roughly 1.8 percent and more than 6,000 landscape protection areas comprising roughly 25 percent of Germany’s total area. In addition, there are 12 national parks covering about two percent of country’s territory; 80 percent of their area consists of tidal mud flats and bodies of water on the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts. More important in terms of area than the nature reserves are the landscape protection areas, some of which have been integrated into 67 large-scale nature parks. In contrast to nature reserves, landscape protection areas and nature parks as a rule allow for sound agricultural practice and recreational use.