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A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 28092

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Prof. Dr. Wojciech Zgłobicki

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Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Maria Curie Sklodowska University, 20-718 Lublin, Poland
Interests: hillslope geomorphology; geochemistry; heavy metals; geotourism; geoheritage; landscape ecology; soil and gully erosion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, in many parts of the world, an intensive development of tourism based on the values of geoheritage has been observed. This phenomenon should be assessed positively due to the fact that geotourism is not a form of mass tourism and therefore creates the possibility of sustainable development of certain areas, without threatening the values of their environment. Geotourism is implemented mainly on the basis of geoparks. Their international importance increased significantly after the approval of the UNESCO Global Geopark concept in 2015. At that time, the necessity of holistic management of geosites and landscapes, which can be realized within geoparks, was recognized. Their important function is the education of tourists in the field of Earth sciences, based on geological exposures, landforms, and viewpoints occurring in their areas. An additional advantage could be the presence of archaeological, ecological, historical, and cultural values in these areas. The increase in tourist traffic can also be an opportunity for the economic development of areas that have not been visited in large numbers so far. A necessary condition is the proper spatial planning and management of the space used by tourists and the preparation of appropriate infrastructure. Geoparks can therefore be treated as functional areas—spatial structures consisting of functionally related areas with uniform development goals.

This Special Issue welcomes papers focusing on topics including (but not limited to) the following:

Development of geopark networks in individual countries;
Assessment of the impact of geotourism on the use of landscapes;
The role of spatial planning in geotourism;
Good practices in geopark management;
Problems of education in the field of geoheritage.

Prof. Dr. Wojciech Zgłobicki
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Geotourism
Geoheritage
Geoconservation
Geoparks
Spatial management
Sustainable development

Related Special Issue

Geoparks as a Form of Tourism Space Management II in Land (2 articles)

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 2497 KiB

Open AccessArticle

UNESCO Global Geoparks 22 Years after Their Creation: Analysis of Scientific Production

by Miriam Edith Pérez-Romero, José Álvarez-García, Martha Beatriz Flores-Romero and Donaji Jiménez-Islas

Land 2023, 12(3), 671; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12030671 - 13 Mar 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1847

Abstract

Geoparks are unique geographical areas whose geological significance is worthy of UNESCO designation as a Global Geopark. As of 2022, 177 geoparks located in 46 countries have this designation. The aim of this paper is to identify and analyse the worldwide scientific production published in the Web of Sciences database in the context of Geoparks. The methodology used was bibliometric analysis, which allows for the rigorous exploration and analysis of large volumes of data. To this end, descriptive and relational indicators were obtained for the field of study; performance analysis, scientific mapping, and network analysis. A total of 324 articles were identified, the first of which was from 1999 by Wolfgang Eder, in which he presented the UNESCO initiative on the creation of geoparks as a tool to promote a better understanding of the geological heritage and the rational use of the Earth’s crust; the rest of the articles were written after the programme was launched (2001). Few authors work on the subject continuously, the author with the highest number of publications has six, and most of the authors with a single authorship are transient. The countries with the highest number of publications are China, followed by Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Italy, where scientific production is concentrated; the high rate of transience indicates that many countries have only one publication. Most publications are concentrated in two journals: geoheritage and geosciences. In the early years (1999–2003), publications were associated with two research areas, geology and palaeontology, and it is in the last five years (2019–2002) that the areas of knowledge showing interest in the subject have diversified. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geoparks as a Form of Tourism Space Management)

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16 pages, 2594 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Projecting Development through Tourism: Patrimonial Governance in Indonesian Geoparks

by Rucitarahma Ristiawan, Edward Huijbens and Karin Peters

Land 2023, 12(1), 223; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12010223 - 11 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1644

Abstract

Research on governance of tourism development predominantly focuses on sustainable management of a tourism destination, pinning hopes on the market and individual entrepreneurs. In Indonesia, this mission has been codified in post-reformation era (1998–2014) policies of land-use change promoting tourism and environmental conservation. One of these is the introduction of the UNESCO Geopark charter as a tool to realize the image of a modern state and “modernizing” regional economies. In this, a particular patrimonial governance arrangement appears to govern land use distribution to accrue the potential value of land from different use. This particular clientelist order will be analyzed in this article, namely by examining how finance, state power, and informal interactions between the national and regional structures of governance mesh in arranging land-use conversions for tourism purposes. Based on 4 months of ethnographic fieldwork and 32 interviews with various stakeholders in the Gunungsewu and Ciletuh UNESCO Geoparks, the paper will show how Indonesian post-reformation decentralization policies induced regional clientelism in the production of tourism destinations. This includes hierarchical relations between the local elite, private business owners, and governments representing asymmetric loyalty relations, negotiated subordination, and dominance. The more recent re-centralization attempts from the national government under Joko Widodo’s regime seem only to encourage this clientelism as a form of resistance to the state. This evidences that the Indonesian patrimonial governance and the production of tourism destinations in geoparks run counter to the ideals in governance as promoted for destination development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geoparks as a Form of Tourism Space Management)

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22 pages, 3064 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Germany’s UNESCO Global Geoparks and National GeoParks: Experiences from a Two-Tier System

by Heidi Elisabeth Megerle and Christof Ellger

Land 2023, 12(1), 108; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12010108 - 29 Dec 2022

Viewed by 1592

Abstract

Initiatives in Germany were among the pioneers of the international geopark movement. The Vulkaneifel Geopark was involved in the development of the first international geopark initiative at the end of the 1990s, establishing the European Geoparks Network in 2000. In addition, the national geoscientific community opted early, since the year 2000, for an additional national label, with the idea of establishing more geoparks than then possible if they had relied solely on the international certificate. Currently, eight geoparks in Germany are both National GeoParks and UNESCO Global Geoparks. A further ten geoparks are recognized as National GeoParks. After more than two decades, the two-tier system in Germany appears to be a successful approach. Opportunities as well as challenges of such a two-tier geopark system, are addressed in the article. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geoparks as a Form of Tourism Space Management)

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16 pages, 5523 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Geoheritage Resources in Polish Landscape Parks as a Basis for Developing a Network of Geoparks

by Sylwia Sygar and Wojciech Zgłobicki

Land 2022, 11(12), 2277; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11122277 - 13 Dec 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 971

Abstract

Despite intensive scientific research on geodiversity and geotourism, the development of a network of geoparks in Poland has been slow. There are only two geoparks here. The reasons include difficulties of an organisational nature. The existing network of spatial forms of nature conservation should be used to streamline the process of establishing geoparks. The areas of the potential geoparks partially overlap with the areas of the landscape parks. The study presents a comprehensive quantitative assessment of abiotic nature sites (abiotic nature reserves, abiotic natural phenomena, documentation sites, geosites) occurring in landscape parks (125 in Poland). Parks with the greatest number of such sites and the highest geoheritage value are indicated (10% of the total number). Within these areas, new geoparks could be established and tourism based on geoheritage resources could be developed. In some cases, landscape parks located within the planned geoparks feature a small number of geoheritage sites, which may indicate the occurrence of deficiencies in the system of spatial forms of abiotic nature conservation in Poland. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geoparks as a Form of Tourism Space Management)

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14 pages, 795 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Perceived Rural Development in UNESCO Global Geoparks in Spain

by Esteban Pérez-Calderón, Jorge Manuel Prieto-Ballester and Vanessa Miguel-Barrado

Land 2022, 11(7), 1086; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11071086 - 15 Jul 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1660

Abstract

The tourism management of geoparks is an excellent way of achieving sustainable development in rural areas and improving the quality of life of the resident population while respecting their natural and cultural heritage. Spain is the country with the second highest number of geoparks in the world and the first in Europe. This study aims to find out how rural development is perceived by the highest political representatives of the municipalities affected by the declaration of geoparks in Spain, considering the dimensions of economic and social development and the infrastructures of the environment. Data were collected through a questionnaire and analysed with the structural equation modelling technique. The results reveal that the local perception of the geopark declaration is conditioned, firstly, by the perceived economic and tourism development, followed by the development of the surrounding infrastructure and social development. In conclusion, good tourism planning in these areas, increased recreational use, and the services offered by local businesses are necessary to improve the way of life for these rural populations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geoparks as a Form of Tourism Space Management)

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28 pages, 24214 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Vision on a UNESCO Global Geopark at the Southeastern Dead Sea in Jordan—How Natural Hazards May Offer Geotourism Opportunities

by Djamil Al-Halbouni, Osama AlRabayah, David Nakath and Lars Rüpke

Land 2022, 11(4), 553; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11040553 - 09 Apr 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3574

Abstract

This paper aims to identify and discuss the chances, solutions, and possible drawbacks related to the establishment of safe geotourism sites in subsidence-affected areas, exemplarily applied to the Ghor Al-Haditha sinkhole site at the southeastern shore of the Dead Sea. Such safe areas shall be established in the territory of the proposed future UNESCO Global Geopark (UGGp) in Jordan. The highlights of the geopark and the basis of its creation are the subsidence features and stream channels found along the SE shoreline of the Dead Sea, which form both a natural hazard and geological heritage of high international significance and have attracted many researchers so far. This recent and ongoing formation is related to the sharp regression of the lake, the specific geomechanical conditions, and the hydrogeologic and climatic background of the surroundings. Nearby communities have suffered in economic terms from these natural phenomena, including flash floods and droughts in this semi-arid to arid region. We here present a concept on how to integrate geoscientific research for hazard monitoring and early warning to maintain safety for inhabitants and visitors on the one hand and reach sustainable economic development through the establishment of geotourism sites on the other hand. This highlight area of the proposed UGGp serves as a starting example for delineating safe zones for walkways and infrastructure. This involves two-way knowledge transfer between spatial planning and hydrogeophysical monitoring, a network of community-supported geophysical surveillance, and regular maintenance and adaptation. The cross-cutting benefits for the territory involve the delineation of safe areas for agriculture and geotourism, the increase of sustainable tourism in the region with a shift towards alternative ways of income, more investment in infrastructure, a growth of international visibility of the region, enhanced environmental education with focus on responsible water usage, and involvement in international research and education projects. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geoparks as a Form of Tourism Space Management)

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30 pages, 34527 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Vision on a UNESCO Global Geopark at the Southeastern Dead Sea in Jordan—Geosites and Conceptual Approach

by Djamil Al-Halbouni, Osama AlRabayah and Lars Rüpke

Land 2022, 11(4), 549; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11040549 - 08 Apr 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4765

Abstract

A vision for the establishment of a Geopark in Jordan is given in this work, with a subsequent application to the UNESCO Global Geopark programme. The Dead Sea area and its surroundings have suffered strong changes in the last decades, accompanied by a variety of natural hazards related to enhanced erosional processes. The aspiring Geopark will thematically encompass the influence that these changes and related natural hazards, including flash floods and subsidence, have had on the local population, from geological, over historical up to recent times. The hydrogeology and geomorphology, i.e., the connection between erosion by water, dissolution of minerals, and landscape evolution, will be the main guiding theme that connects the Eastern Rim Highlands with the Dead Sea rift valley through ephemeral wadis, vegetated springs areas, and traditionally communities. The creation of the Geopark is aimed at holistic, sustainable development and management of the area by eco-tourism, and includes education on water resource management, hazard awareness and resilience, as well as international research. We here present the conceptual approach to the initial development of a Geopark network in Jordan. In a narrative discourse, we highlight realised and further implementation steps, with an evaluation of the expected timeline, potential partner institutions, regional involvement and the chances for realisation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geoparks as a Form of Tourism Space Management)

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17 pages, 4351 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Recent State Policy and Its Impact on Geopark Establishment and Operation in Slovakia

by Marián Lukáč, Ľubomír Štrba, Alexander Černega and Samer Khouri

Land 2021, 10(10), 1069; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10101069 - 11 Oct 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2174

Abstract

The geological evolution and structure of the territory of Slovakia plays a key role in the current geodiversity of the country. The importance of this key element of the environment is widely and most effectively represented in geoparks. This paper is devoted to the state policy of geopark establishment and operation in Slovakia. Despite the relatively well-established concept of geoparks in the world, its position is not entirely clear in Slovak legislation. So, both bottom-up initiatives and top-down strategies are not quite successful in geopark operations, especially when considering the sustainability of Slovak geoparks. The possible future position of geoparks in Slovakia, in terms of state policies, may be found (as discussed in this paper) in adopting specific legislation which will effectively support the development of these potential (geo)tourist areas, contributing to both sustainable tourism development and nature protection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geoparks as a Form of Tourism Space Management)

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21 pages, 18616 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quantitative-Qualitative Method for Quick Assessment of Geodiversity

by Vladyslav Zakharovskyi and Károly Németh

Land 2021, 10(9), 946; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10090946 - 08 Sep 2021

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 2858

Abstract

The article demonstrates a method for quantitative-qualitative geodiversity assessment based on core elements of abiotic nature (geology and geomorphology) according to a proposed weight multiplied by the area of spread through the studied region. The territory of the Coromandel Peninsula was selected as a case study due to its diverse geology and geomorphology. The north part of the Peninsula (Port Jackson, Fletcher Bay and Port Charles districts) was chosen because of the variety of rock types (sedimentary and volcanic groups) covering the region, while historical stratovolcano remnants and old sediments provide a good variety of meadow hills and weathered coastal cliffs. Meanwhile, the method utilizes easily accessible data (topographical and geological map) to assess slope angle (morphometry) and rock groups, including their age (geology) to identify areas in the sample region with significant geodiversity values. Moreover, the aim of this research is to make the assessment of geodiversity simpler and more accessible for various parts of the world with minimal required information. In this paper, we provide access to improve and utilize this method in geologically diverse territories to select the best areas for geotourism, geoeducation and geconservation planning. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geoparks as a Form of Tourism Space Management)

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31 pages, 7791 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Informed Geoheritage Conservation: Determinant Analysis Based on Bibliometric and Sustainability Indicators Using Ordination Techniques

by Boglárka Németh, Károly Németh and Jon N. Procter

Land 2021, 10(5), 539; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10050539 - 19 May 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3183

Abstract

Ordination methods are used in ecological multivariate statistics in order to reduce the number of dimensions and arrange individual variables along environmental variables. Geoheritage designation is a new challenge for conservation planning. Quantification of geoheritage to date is used explicitly for site selection, however, it also carries significant potential to be one of the indicators of sustainable development that is delivered through geosystem services. In order to achieve such a dominant position, geoheritage needs to be included in the business as usual model of conservation planning. Questions about the quantification process that have typically been addressed in geoheritage studies can be answered more directly by their relationships to world development indicators. We aim to relate the major informative geoheritage practices to underlying trends of successful geoheritage implementation through statistical analysis of countries with the highest trackable geoheritage interest. Correspondence analysis (CA) was used to obtain information on how certain indicators bundle together. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was used to detect sets of factors to determine positive geoheritage conservation outcomes. The analysis resulted in ordination diagrams that visualize correlations among determinant variables translated to links between socio-economic background and geoheritage conservation outcomes. Indicators derived from geoheritage-related academic activity and world development metrics show a shift from significant Earth science output toward disciplines of strong international agreement such as tourism, sustainability and biodiversity. Identifying contributing factors to conservation-related decisions helps experts to tailor their proposals for required evidence-based quantification reports and reinforce the scientific significance of geoheritage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geoparks as a Form of Tourism Space Management)

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