UNESCO has listed the promotion of sustainable development as one of the four core missions of geoparks, making geoparks a living laboratory for practicing this concept.
The purpose of the Global Geoparks Network is 'to protect Earth's geological heritage and promote local sustainable development.'
Geological parks are natural laboratories of Earth science. They preserve stratigraphy, fossils, structures, and landform relics spanning billions of years, recording the most authentic scientific information on plate movements, changes in land and sea, and the evolution of life.
Geological parks are natural outdoor classrooms that turn the abstract geographical and scientific knowledge from books into real scenes that can be seen and touched, serving as an important educational platform connecting campuses and nature.
No! Geoparks focus on precious geological sites, but they are not only about geology. They are more like an open-air Earth museum, presenting billions of years of geological stories, natural ecology, and human history in a comprehensive way.
The term "geopark" first appeared in UNESCO's Geopark program in 1997. UNESCO proposed the concept of a geopark in 1999. It requires that a geopark be "an area with geosites of significant geological value, necessitating a complete and coordinated management framework and strategies for sustainable economic development."
