Chapter 12 - Geoheritage Conservation and Environmental Policies: Retrospect and Prospect

Abstract

Geoconservation has evolved from a focus primarily on the protection of geosites for science and education towards a broader discipline that, in addition, recognises the wider intrinsic, aesthetic, cultural and ecological values of geodiversity and geoheritage. This more holistic approach, linking natural and cultural elements of the landscape, provides opportunities to achieve better integration of geoconservation in environmental policies and in the delivery of biodiversity targets and ecosystem functions. It also enables geoheritage conservation to be linked into the application and management of the IUCN Protected Area Management Categories. Significant challenges remain, however, to implement this holistic approach in practice and to set geoconservation on a comparable footing to biodiversity conservation in environmental policies and strategies. Four specific aspects are highlighted for development: mainstreaming geoconservation into civil society; improving the scientific basis of geoconservation; mainstreaming geoconservation into nature conservation, the ecosystem approach and sustainable development; and integrating geoconservation into protected area planning and management.