Abstract
Abstract. Over the last two decades, several methods have been developed to reduce subjectivity of geomorphosite selection through use of transparent assessment criteria. Most of these methods propose criteria such as integrity, rarity, representativeness and palaeogeographical importance for the evaluation of the «scientific value» of sites. For the assessment of their global quality, «additional values» of ecological, cultural, aesthetic and economic nature have, at times, been taken into consideration. This paper proposes a new assessment method that integrates both sets of values into the evaluation of geomorphosites. The method is described and its implementation in two different cases presented: compilation of an inventory of geomorphosites in the National Park of Adula (Ticino, Switzerland) and evaluation of the geocultural heritage of the Trient area (Valais, Switzerland).
Highlights
During the last two decades, several attempts have been made to evaluate the quality of geomorpho¬ logical heritage in various contexts, for example in environmental impact assessment (Rivas et al 1997; Coratza & Giusti 2005), inventories of natural her¬ itage sites (Serrano & Gonzälez-Trueba 2005), tourist promotion (Pralong 2005) or management of nature parks (Pereira et al 2007)
The various methods are based on several assessment criteria - three of them are recurrent, that is rarity, representativeness and integrity (Grandgirard 1999), and others, for example «ecological value», palaeogeographic importance, «educative value», etc., are dependent on the context of the assessment and on the aims of the research
Not exclusive and their use depends on the objectives of the research (Reynard 2005a): for inventories of sites to be protected, the more restrictive definition of the term should be used because the sites and areas to be selected would need to be of particular importance for the knowledge of Earth history; on the other hand, within the context of geotourism or integrated cultural landscape management, the broader definition may be used in order to facilitate the analysis of possible links to other areas of culture or science
Summary
During the last two decades, several attempts have been made to evaluate the quality of geomorpho¬ logical heritage in various contexts, for example in environmental impact assessment (Rivas et al 1997; Coratza & Giusti 2005), inventories of natural her¬ itage sites (Serrano & Gonzälez-Trueba 2005), tourist promotion (Pralong 2005) or management of nature parks (Pereira et al 2007). The various methods are based on several assessment criteria - three of them are recurrent, that is rarity, representativeness and integrity (Grandgirard 1999), and others, for example «ecological value», palaeogeographic importance, «educative value», etc., are dependent on the context of the assessment and on the aims of the research. They depend on the actual definition of geomor¬ phological heritage. 1997), geomorphosites are sites of particular impor¬ tance for the knowledge of Earth history and for the reconstruction of history of life, climate and Earth; for others (e.g. Panizza & Piacente 1993; Panizza 2001), the importance of geomorphosites is related to their «scientific value» - that is their importance for knowledge of Earth history -, and to other pos¬ sible «ecologjcal», «economic» or «cultural values»
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