Campaigners have voiced disappointment that the Scottish Government has no plans to create any more national parks.
Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse said it would be wrong to raise expectations when the government is faced with cutbacks in both capital and resource funding.
He said establishing any new national parks would depend on a “clear view” on what was being proposed, along with local support and a robust business case.
In a parliamentary answer, Mr Wheelhouse said: “As there are no current proposals which meet these tests, the Scottish Government has no current plans to designate further national parks in Scotland”.
John Mayhew, director of the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland, accused the government of “burying its head in the sand”.
He said the association had been campaigning for up to seven new national parks for “several decades” and recently joined with the Scottish Campaign for National Parks.
Proposals include national parks in Harris, Wester Ross, Glen Affric, and the Ben Nevis-Glen Coe-Black Mount area.
“I am not surprised by the minister’s statement but I am very disappointed because I feel it lacks ambition for Scotland’s landscape and people,” he said.
Mr Mayhew wondered how Mr Wheelhouse could say there was no local appetite for any new parks when the government rejected a local proposal for Harris to be made a national park in 2011.
The combined annual budget for both Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park was around £13million, he said.
As any new parks would be smaller than the existing ones, £10million would pay for two or three more and repay the investment through economic regeneration and environmental protection, Mr Mayhew argued.
Mr Wheelhouse made his comment in response to a question from Highlands and Islands Labour MSP David Stewart who urged the government to “reinstate the spirit” of Scottish-American naturalist John Muir.
“The Scottish Government should remember that the founding father of national parks was a Scot, John Muir, and I think he would be proud of Scotland’s national parks today,” he said.
“I believe it is time to reinstate the spirit of John Muir and to seriously explore the creation of new national parks in Scotland, which was a manifesto commitment of the SNP in 2011.”