Promotion of the Geological Heritage of Araripe Unesco Global Geopark, Brazil: the Casa da Pedra Reference Center

Abstract

The valuing of geological heritage is a crucial task in geoconservation, and particularly relevant in geoparks’ activities. In geoparks displaying a permanent tension between geological resources exploration and geoconservation, valuation practices based on community involvement represent an effective way of accomplishing the geoparks’ goals. This work reports the design, implementation, and preliminary qualitative assessment of an innovative project conducted by the Geosciences Institute of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) developed at the Araripe Unesco Global Geopark (Ceara State, NE Brazil): the Casa da Pedra Reference Center. Since its opening in 2016 the Casa da Pedra is engaged with the promotion of links between geological heritage and all other aspects of the Araripe’s natural and cultural heritage, in a mutually beneficial way. This infrastructure was built at Inhumas, Santana do Cariri. It is placed in a strategic location known as Araripe Basin for those who want to develop research and training activities on geosciences, and it fills the previous lack of basic logistic facilities in the region. It offers accommodation for 60 people, mainly university students from Brazil and abroad, but it is open to local communities for other activities, whether of a cultural or religious character.