UNESCO Names 18 New Global Geoparks
By THAN HTUN (GEOSCIENCE MYANMAR)
UNESCO’S Executive Board has
endorsed the addition of 18 sites to the UNESCO Global Geoparks network on 24
May 2023. This brings the total number of geoparks to 195 in 48 countries. Two
UNESCO Member States join the network: New Zealand and the Philippines.
The UNESCO Global Geopark label
was created in 2015. It recognizes the geological heritage of international
significance. Geoparks serve local communities by combining the conservation of
their significant geological heritage with public outreach and a sustainable
approach to development. The 18 new designations have brought the network up to
195 UNESCO Global Geoparks, covering a total surface area of 486,709 square
kilometres, equivalent to twice the size of the United Kingdom. The 18 new
geoparks are: -
BRAZIL
Caçapava UNESCO Global Geopark:
For the Guarani, an indigenous people in Brazil, this geopark is ‘the place
where the jungle ends’. The geopark is located in Rio Grande do Sul State in
southernmost Brazil. Its geological heritage, which consists of mining sulfide
metals and marble, has been vital for the region’s economic development.
Quarta Colônia UNESCO Global Geopark:
This geopark is located in the south of Brazil between the Pampa and Atlantic
Forest biomes. Its name is a reference to the period when Italians colonised
the central part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The geopark is also rich in
fossils of animal and plant life dated to 230 million years ago. It holds the
record for the oldest dinosaurs on the planet, with Triassic fossils of great
international significance.
GREECE
Lavreotiki UNESCO Global
Geopark: Famous for the abundance and variety of its mineralogical
specimens, many of which were first discovered in the area, this geopark is
known around the world for the silver that is extracted from mixed sulfide
deposits.
INDONESIA
Ijen UNESCO Global Geopark:
This geopark is located in the Banyuwangi and Bondowoso Regencies in East Java
Province. The geopark’s strategic location between the strait and the sea has
made it a crossroads for human migration and commerce. Ijen is one of the most
active volcanoes in the Ijen caldera system.
Maros Pangkep UNESCO Global
Geopark: This geopark is located along the southern arm of the island of
Sulawesi in the Maros and Pangkep Regencies. The local population is primarily
composed of the indigenous peoples of Bugis and Makassarese. Although the
geopark covers an area of 5,077 square kilometres, more than half (55.4 per
cent) of it lies underwater.
Merangin Jambi UNESCO Global
Geopark: This geopark is home to the unique fossils of “Jambi flora”, which
are the only exposed fossilized plants of their kind in the world today. These
are located in the central part of Sumatra Island in Indonesia. The name ‘Jambi
flora’ refers to fossilized plants found as part of a rock formation dating
from the Early Permian (296 million years old).
Raja Ampat UNESCO Global
Geopark: This geopark’s territory includes four main islands and is special
for having the oldest exposed rock unit in the country (Silurian–Devonian
dating back 443.8–358.9 million years ago), which is almost one-tenth of the
age of the Earth. The most unusual geological feature is the Tropical Islands
which emerged as a consequence of sea-level rise in the Quaternary Period
(between 2.58 million years ago and 11,700 years ago); here, karstification has
created numerous caves both above and below the water line.
IRAN
Aras UNESCO Global Geopark:
The Aras River marks the northern limit of this geopark located in northwestern
Iran at the southern end of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. This mountain
range acts as a natural barrier. It has created a range of climates, as well as
rich geodiversity and biodiversity; it also links different cultures on the
northern and southern sides of the mountain chain. The most important
geological feature of international significance in this geopark is the traces
of the extinction event that occurred 252 million years ago which marks the
Permian–Triassic Boundary, one of the most important events in the Earth’s
history.
Tabas UNESCO Global Geopark:
Many thinkers have referred to the 22,771 square kilometres of desert in
northwest South Khorasan Province where this geopark is located as ‘the
geological paradise of Iran’. This is due to the fact that one can follow the
evolution of the planet from the earliest part of the Earth’s history 4.6
billion years ago (the Precambrian) to the Early Cretaceous about 145 million
years ago without the slightest interruption. The geopark is home to Naybandan
Wildlife Refuge, the largest in Iran, which covers an area of 1.5 million
hectares and is the most important habitat of the Asian cheetah.
JAPAN
Hakusan Tedorigawa UNESCO
Global Geopark: Located in central Japan, where it follows the Tedori River
from Mount Hakusan down to the sea, the Hakusan Tedorigawa Geopark records
approximately 300 million years of history. It contains rocks that were formed
by the collision of continents. It also has strata containing fossils of
dinosaurs which accumulated in rivers and lakes on land at a time when Japan
was attached to the Eurasian continent.
MALAYSIA
Kinabalu UNESCO Global
Geopark: Mount Kinabalu dominates this geopark in the State of Sabah at the
northern end of the island of Borneo. The highest mountain lying between the
Himalayas and New Guinea, Mount Kinabalu has been attracting explorers for over
a century. Covering an area of 4,750 square kilometres, the geopark is home to
many endemic plants and animals, including 90 orchid species that exist only on
Mount Kinabalu, and the crimson-headed partridge bird not found anywhere else
on Earth.
NEW ZEALAND
Waitaki Whitestone UNESCO
Global Geopark: New Zealand’s first UNESCO Global Geopark lies on the east
coast of the South Island, extending over an area of 7,214 square kilometres
from the Waitaki Valley to the base of the Southern Alps. The landscapes,
rivers and tides of this geopark have enormous cultural significance for the
local indigenous people, the Ngāi
Tahu whānui. The geopark
offers exceptional insights into the history of the Earth’s eighth continent,
Zealandia, or Te Riu-a-Māui
in Maori.
NORWAY
Sunnhordland UNESCO Global
Geopark: The landscapes in this geopark range from glacier-covered alpine
mountains to archipelagos with thousands of islands situated on the strand flat
along the coast. The geological landscape displays textbook examples of glacial
erosion that occurred during the 40 ice ages. The Hardangerfjord Fault
separates a billion years of geological evolution. The geopark showcases how
volcanic systems build continents: at the place where two tectonic plates
converge, the compressed plate crumples before being uplifted to form a
mountain range in a process known as orogeny.
PHILIPPINES
Bohol Island UNESCO Global
Geopark: The Philippines’ first UNESCO Global Geopark, Bohol Island, sits
in the Visayas island group. The island’s geological identity has been pieced
together over 150 million years, as periods of tectonic turbulence have raised
the island from the ocean depths. Traces of the island’s subterranean past can
be found in the limestone which forms characteristic karstic structures. The
geopark abounds in karstic geosites such as caves, sinkholes and cone karst,
including the famous cone-shaped Chocolate Hills in the centre of the geopark.
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Jeonbuk West Coast UNESCO
Global Geopark: This geopark tells 2.5 billion years of well-exposed
geological history in the western part of the country. The vast tidal flats
dotted with volcanoes and islands allow us to travel through time to piece
together elements of the Earth’s history. The Korean word for tid al flats is
‘getbol’. The Gochang Getbol is one of 19 coastal wetland areas in the world
with a tidal range greater than five metres (macrotidal).
SPAIN
Cabo Ortegal UNESCO Global
Geopark: Take a journey into the interior of our planet by discovering
rocks that emerged from the depths of the Earth almost 400 million years ago in
what is now Cabo Ortegal UNESCO Global Geopark. This geopark provides some of
the most complete evidence in Europe of the collision that caused Pangea, a
process known as the Variscan Orogeny. Most of the rocks in this geopark were
brought to the surface by the collision of two continents, Laurussia and
Gondwana, which would eventually join the supercontinent Pangaea about 350
million years ago. When this collision occurred, these rocks were situated in
the Earth’s upper mantle, at a depth of more than 70 km.
THAILAND
Khorat UNESCO Global Geopark:
This geopark is mostly located in the LamTakhong river basin on the
southwestern margin of the Khorat Plateau in Nakhon Ratchasima Province in
northeast Thailand. Deciduous dipterocarp forests are the dominant forest type
in the area. The unique geological feature of the region is the diversity and
abundance of fossils ranging in age from 16 million to 10,000 years. A large
range of dinosaurs and other animal fossils like ancient elephants have been
found in Mueang District. Petrified wood has also been discovered in sand and
gravel deposits both in the Chaloem Phra Kiat and Mueang districts of Nakhon
Ratchasima. This has prompted Khorat UNESCO Global Geopark to consider itself
the Paleontopolis (City of Ancient Life) of the world.
UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT
BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
Mourne Gullion Strangford UNESCO
Global Geopark: This geopark tells the tale of how two oceans evolved over 400
million years of geological history. It charts the closure of the Iapetus Ocean
and the birth of the North Atlantic Ocean, which generated large amounts of
molten rock (or magma) both within the Earth’s crust and on the surface. The
subsequent rocks and landscapes have since been shaped by numerous Earth
processes but dominated by those during the most recent Ice Age. The
combination of mountain and coastal environments has led to the development of
a hugely diverse range of glacial features not commonly seen in such a small
area. These provide evidence of multiple stages of ice development and movement
in the Mourne Mountains and in Strangford Lough. The geopark is located in the
southeast of Northern Ireland, adjacent to the border with the Republic of
Ireland, and covers an area of 1,932 square kilometres. People have inhabited
this area since just after the end of the last glaciation.
References: UNESCO, Last
update: 25 May 2023
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