Abstract
The central concern for geodiversity conservation is the low perception of its importance and appreciation by society, as the individual rarely values what he does not know. Thus, communication is essential to promote a better perception and comprehension by the public and, consequently, the conservation of geodiversity. Geosites are exceptional places to promote the communication of Geosciences because they allow public engagement through the enchantment provided, for example, by the story that can be told there. The Varvite Geological Park is a geosite of Sao Paulo state and is frequently used in formal education field activities pointing out its importance to geoscience knowledge dissemination. This municipal park brings important geodiversity elements that represent the late Paleozoic glaciation in southeastern Brazil, such as sedimentary structures, dropstones and ichnofossils. The development of a communication strategy requires an understanding of the Park's current situation. To this end, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of the Varvite Geological Park was carried out involving several stakeholders whose professional performance is related to the Park. This analysis resulted in a situational matrix with data organized in four quadrants that considered strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The results of the SWOT analysis pointed out a discontinuity in the existing communication actions and that an integrated and strategic approach is missing. Thus, the current communication gives to the visitor a fragmented view of Park's geological, historical and cultural context. Consequently, the potential to disseminate important geological concepts for public understanding and preservation is not fully explored.
Highlights
Geodiversity, as a set of abiotic elements of nature and their natural processes, is indispensable for the existence of life on our planet
As this diagnosis will support a future communication strategy formulation, the data used in this study covered aspects of communication and accessibility such as infrastructure, communication elements; physical aspects of geodiversity such as its elements conservation conditions and vulnerability resulting from the anthropic visitors actions; and the perception of visitors, employees, different institutions partners and public managers
The current elements of communication found in the Park are: nine explanatory panels installed at different locations (Figure 4A), a totem pole (Figure 4B), a notice board (Figure 4C) with a posted leaflet (Figure 4D), a website (Figure 5A) and a page on Facebook social network, which is temporarily disabled due to the proximity of municipal elections, according to the Park administration (Figure 5B)
Summary
Geodiversity, as a set of abiotic elements of nature and their natural processes, is indispensable for the existence of life on our planet. The geosites can provide enchantment through their geological history Narrating this story in a fantastic way facilitates the absorption of complex concepts and promotes public engagement (Somerville and Hassol 2011). It is a place that arouses public interest and is widely explored as a tourist attraction receiving visitors from Brazil and around the world It has an established vocation for teaching figuring in field activities for students from elementary to graduate school, as well as in scientific research (Guimarães et al 2018). We conducted a situational diagnosis of this geosite focusing the current geocommunication practices using a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis This methodology allows the identification and systematic organization of the positive and negative aspects, both internal and external Parks environments. This data rationalization facilitates aspects crossing and prioritization for decision making on the communication strategy to be used in further studies
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