Up to 300 experts have participated in the II Technical Seminar on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Geodiversity in Andalusia, held between November the 26^th and the 28^th in Granada. NaturGeo 2008 aims to divulgate strategies for the protection and use of Geodiversity in Andalusia, as well as in other European regions such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal, whose representatives explained their experiences.

In this second seminar, the Environmental Regional Government proposed to recapitulate the state of thid subject, the evolution in the last period and the future perspectives offered by the new European financial instruments for rural development during the 2007-2013 operational programmes.

From this perspective the meeting was dedicated to reveal successful strategies from different territories within Andalusia and in the rest of Europe, with th objective to have geodiversity as an important value for rural development.

In the seminar participated politicians, technicians, entrepreneurs, social partners and public and private operators working on fields related to environmental research and management; environmental planning, rural development and tourisme planning and management.

Andalusia has a new Law about Natural Heritage and Biodiversity  –a regulatory framework setting four lines of action, guidelines, goals and measures for the comprehensive planning of the geological heritage- while the Geodiversity Conservation Strategy is actually at the draft stage. Through these instruments, the Andalusian Regional Government is committed to include the region’s geological resources in rural development strategies to generate jobs and to contribute to sustainable economic activities.

Only in Granada, the Regional Environmental Ministry has already some projects for valorising the Río Castril fountain-head, the Marchal gullies, the Trevenque sandy grounds, the Sierra Gorda karst, the Zafarraya karstic depression, the Nigüelas fault, the Guadalfeo River canyon and the Maro-Cerro Gordo cliffs (Natural Site).

Agenda

Among the topics discussed during the seminar the following stand out: management and use of Geodiversity in Andalusia, both from the regional government’s point of view, through the Andalusian Strategy on the Integrated Management of Geodiversity, and from the standpoint of the scientific-technical work, the GEOSITE Project being in the foreground. In addition, the Andalusian Network of Natural Protected Areas (RENPA) contributed with its vision of the geological heritage and the Geodiversity. Rosa Mendoza, manager of Cabo de Gata-Níjar Geopark, and Baldomero Romero, manager of the Subbeticas Geopark; the general vision of the geological heritage and Geodiversity was provided by Javier Cobos, Coordination and Management Service for the Natural Protected Areas Network.

In the third and fourth modules of the seminar, international experiences for conservation and sustainable use of Geodiversity  were exposed by the European Geopark Network and the Global Geopark Network representatives; Naturtejo GeoPark (Portugal), Psiloritis Geopark (Greece) and Teruel-Dinópolis Paleontological Area foundation. The experience of the Castillejar (Granada) Ecological Museum was also explained, the Riotinto Foundation; the Arrayanes Project Group, who did explain its project on the industrial-archaeological heritage in Linares-La Carolina (Jaén) mining district; and Natur-Sport, that spoke about cave tourism in the Cuevas de Sorbas (Karstic Natural Spot in Yesos de Sorbas). The Píñar (Granada) Cueva de las Ventanas project representatives were also in attendance.

Precedents

The first seminar on the conservation and sustainable use of Geodiversity was held four years ago in Almería and in the closing ceremony, the Regional Environmental Ministry, du to the public interest, did commit itself to organising this second seminar, after a long-enough period to assess the initiatives and actions then submitted as new.

Over this period of time, governments, institutions and social groups throughout Europe have fostered in a remarkable way the inclusion of Geodiversity conservation and sustainable-use strategies in their respective policies and fields of action and planning. A new perspective is thus consolidated that not only acknowledges Geodiversity as an essential part of the natural environment, but also envisages it as a complementary, sometimes predominant, natural resource, a highly useful one in the rural-area development strategy. It becomes, therefore, a resource serving the purposes of job creation and sustainable economic activity in areas which, besides, need special help.