Geoparks aim to get funds for protection
By Cao Desheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-06-25 00:28

Hoping to match protection and profit, China is encouraging both public and private officials to preserve geological sites.

The central government has set up a special fund and the Ministry of Land and Resources is seeking more funding to protect geological sites reflecting the 4.6-billion-year history of the earth, said Jiang Jianjun, director general of the ministry's Department of Geological Environment.

Protecting the country's geological treasures may do more than just save the environment. Jiang says the move may also help pad the business pockets.

"How to preserve geological heritage is a problem that both government officials and experts have been confronted with and hope to solve," said Jiang.

China's National Geoparks combine the protection of geosites with local tourism industry and have contributed to the growth of regional economies, Jiang said during a press conference.

More than 40 National Geological Parks have been built across the country. Thirty of them have started catering to tour groups by putting up boards with information about the site's unique geological features.

Eight National Geoparks are included in the first batch of World Geoparks approved by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in February.

"The great achievements that China has made in the protection of geological heritage won us the opportunity to hold the First International Conference on Geoparks," said Jiang, who is also the secretary general of the conference that opens on Sunday.

Some 500 geological experts from 40 countries will attend the two-day event.

The conference will focus on geological heritage protection, the relationship between the protection and utilization of geoparks, an international network of geoparks to contribute to the regional economy and the status quo of the global UNESCO Network of Geoparks.

The conference, with the theme of "protecting geoheritage to achieve sustainable development," aims to promote the sound development of world geoparks.

China is taking a leading role in building the geopark network.

As early as 20 years ago, some Chinese experts put forward the idea of establishing geoparks in terrains with geological significance and beautiful landscapes to conduct scientific research, said Jiang.

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