Journal of Geoconservation Research
Volume:5 Issue: 2, Summer-Autumn 2022

Geoparks in China have been a great success story, with 284 national geoparks and 41 of them accorded UNESCO international status, the highest number for any country in the world. We track the progress of one of the geoparks, Luoping Biota National Geopark in Yunnan Province, from initial plans after its discovery as a key site for the exceptional preservation of Middle Triassic marine fossils in 2007, to acceptance as a National Geopark in 2011. Geoparks combine great scientific importance with accessibility and attraction for tourists. The scientific importance of Luoping is in the fossils, thousands of specimens of marine invertebrates, fishes and reptiles, together with rare elements from land (e.g. insects, plants), representing an important phase in the Mesozoic Marine Revolution, when life was recovering from devastation at the end of the Permian, and 8 million years later, had developed stable ecosystems with a new structure, dominated by predatory fishes and reptiles. The touristic importance of the Luoping Biota Geopark has already been demonstrated by rapid development of facilities and high visitor numbers.

Unconsolidated diamicton deposits of Quaternary age cover much of the lowland areas of the British Isles. These are often poorly exposed and as a result their influence on development and importance as palaeontological archives are often under appreciated. Maintaining exposures in such strata is often challenging and their incorporation into the built environment is limited and is biased towards larger particles sizes and more indurated lithologies. The use of gabions is suggested as a possible solution to ensuring such geo-materials can be made available for educational use.

Surface topography is involved with cultural values in some destinations, and Neyshabur and Firuzeh Counties constitute good examples. In this paper, we present the primary geosites with cultural geomorphology values and aims to investigate the appropriate solutions for promoting geotourism with an emphasis on cultural geomorphology. Thematic analysis as a qualitative method and observation was used, and the results demonstrated that Neyshabur and Firuzeh counties include 19 geosites with cultural geomorphology values. We propose the use of marketing, government support, research and identification, local empowerment, and development of new products and services to offer to tourists with geo-themes as key solutions to promote geotourism with an emphasis on cultural geomorphology.

Geomorphological principles show that the earth's surface is not fixed and changes over time. The physical elements of the earth's surface, from microscopic components such as minerals to macroscopic phenomena such as landforms, are all part of geodiversity. Landform equilibrium and resilience are related to the resistance to the erosion pattern. In other words, morphogenic processes in low resilience geosystems cause landform changes. Resilience is usually considered as increasing stability and reducing sensitivity; measuring the amount and quality of that issue is essential in protecting perspectives. Here, we evaluate the geo-diversity of the Eastern Kopet-Dagh Mountains in northeastern Iran based on the geosystem's degree of sensitivity, equilibrium, and resilience. In this study, using overlapping information layers, we classified each indicator into three degrees of sensitivity after selecting suitable indicators. Then, a geological diversity map was prepared by combining the data into two sub-sets of geosystem sensitivity and protection. We find that about 41% of the Eastern Kopet-Dagh Mountains, equivalent to 7800 km2, have a high degree of sensitivity, more in the southern half of the study area than in the northern half. In these sensitive areas the slightest change by disturbance can overwhelm the recovery potential and change the state of the geosystem. Consistency of research findings with field visits shows the necessity of proper management and exploitation of the mentioned areas to prevent critical conditions and further expansion of vulnerable regions.

Limestone pavements, formed in part as a result of glacial scour, are highly valued parts of the landscape of northern Britain. They have been quarried extensively for use in both gardening and for landscaping in urban recreational spaces. Legal protection was provided in the 1980s and extraction has since been halted in England. This has been a geoconservation success story but there are ongoing concerns that damage may have been displaced to other areas of the British Isles.

IGCP project No. 751 focuses on educational and ‘fun’ aspects of geoconservation, and its first year experienced the exchange of information between the geoparks of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. The following are particularly worthy of further elaboration and future efforts: 1) the offer by the geoparks to award local institutions and businesses the "GEO" certificate if they contribute to fun geological education; 2) special excursions through historic towns to look at the origin of the building stones and changes in use over time; 3) targeted cooperation on a personal and project level with the most famous museums in each country; 4) permission for visitors to collect rock samples that would otherwise be lost to natural processes.

An essential component for sustaining biodiversity and providing natural resources for society is the management of geodiversity, as represented by the geoheritage of a region, comprising a collection of geosites. In nature conservation planning, the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide an excellent framework for both the private and public sectors. The north coast of the state of São Paulo, Brazil is an area widely used for tourism, with critical problems related to mainly anthropogenic degradation of nature. Forty-three geosites that show important records of regional geology were analyzed for their potential support in achieving the UN 17 SDG and 169 targets. Using Essential Geodiversity Variables (EGVs), our results indicate that, from the 17 SDGs, 13 could benefit directly from actions involving local geodiversity. The relative performance of the geosites in terms of the number of targets for each SDG ranges from 7.7 to 50%. We show that geodiversity plays a fundamental role in contributing to sustainable development and has great potential to influence public policies. In addition, our work can serve as an inspiration for studies involving ecosystem services and encourage greater participation of the local community in nature conservation actions with the sustainable use of geodiversity.

This paper aims to evaluate the geotourism potential of Gonabad Qasabeh qanat as a hydrogeological and cultural-geological site in terms of geotourism, and examine the weak points, and provide solutions. The GAM evaluation model has been used to provide an evaluation based on the main values ​​(scientific-educational, scenic-aesthetic, and protection) and additional values ​​(functional and tourism). A survey was taken from 141 people, tourists and local people, combined with library studies and field visits, and scores were scientific-educational values, 3.75 out of 4; scenic/aesthetic, 2.25 out of 4; protection 3.25 out of 4; functional, 3.75 out of 6; and tourism 5.5 out of 9. The main values ​​have a score of 9.25 out of 12, and the additional values ​9.25 out of 15. The GAM evaluation places the Gonabad Qasabeh qanat at the Z32 level, meaning the site has very high potential main values. Additional values have a medium level. This locality requires the attention of city and country officials and managers to improve access and increase advertising levels. Gonabad Qasabeh Qanat can sustain urban development in its native region.