Brief Notes on Geodiversity and Geoheritage Perception by the Lay Public

Lucie Kubalíková,Marie Balková,Aleš Bajer

doi:10.3390/geosciences11020054

Lucie Kubalíková, Marie Balková + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11020054

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Abstract

Geodiversity has an irreplaceable significance for both biodiversity and for human society as it has numerous functions and offers various benefits and services. These have been already recognized and assessed by using numerous approaches and methods (e.g., geosite assessment methods, geodiversity indexes, and evaluation of geodiversity functions within the concept of ecosystem services). Nearly all these procedures were elaborated by professionals in the Earth sciences or related domains. The assessment of geodiversity functions and services within nature conservation by the public was not the subject of detailed research yet (with an exception of geotourist assessment). This communication presents the results of a pilot research that is focused on the analysis and interpretation of the public opinion on geodiversity and geoconservation. The data were collected by using the semi-structured questionnaire, and based on them, the interpretation was done and comparison or confrontation with original hypotheses was undertaken.

Highlights

Geodiversity (defined by Gray [1] as the natural range of geological, geomorphological, soil and hydrological features, including their assemblages, structures, systems and contribution to landscapes) has an irreplaceable significance for both the biodiversity [2,3,4,5] and for human society, especially for understanding the history of Earth, for its cultural/historical values [6] or as a resource for tourism and recreation [7,8,9]
While some of the questions were verbal and closed or open, other questions were accompanied by pictures, which could help to overcome the problems with explications
The rest of respondents (35%) have heard the term, but they do not know its exact meaning. 95% of respondents agree that geodiversity should be protected, the respondents prefer the protection of living nature; concerning abiotic nature, the karst features are considered as the most worthy of protection and conservation. 63% of respondents state that the geoconservation is not sufficient and that it should be supported somehow

Summary

Introduction

Geodiversity (defined by Gray [1] as the natural range (diversity) of geological, geomorphological, soil and hydrological features, including their assemblages, structures, systems and contribution to landscapes) has an irreplaceable significance for both the biodiversity [2,3,4,5] and for human society, especially for understanding the history of Earth, for its cultural/historical values [6] or as a resource for tourism and recreation [7,8,9]. Geodiversity was a subject of quantitative and statistical assessment by creating and using geodiversity or geomorphodiversity indexes [4,23,24,25,26,27]. These procedures were mainly elaborated by professionals/experts in geosciences or related branches and they are used as an effective tool for implementing the conservation policies or included into the regional or local planning [11,13,16,28]. The last mentioned paper states that perception studies concerning the evaluation of geoheritage are essential for the land management and environmental policies and that the analysis of the perception may support the implementation of geoheritage preservation and management measures [37]

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