scholarly journals GEODIVERSITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: GEOPARKS - A NEW CHALLENGE FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN EARTH SCIENCES

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 159 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Zouros

Recently a new initiative on Geoparks was established in Europe in close synergy with UNESCO aiming at the protection, promotion and rational management of geological landscapes and significant geosites as well as the sustainable development of their hosting territories. Geoparks are broader territories which include a number of geosites linked in a network which recognize these features as keyelements for the development of geotourism through conservation and management. Greece is characterized by a complex geological setting and evolution and was subjected to a variety of geomorphological processes, resulting in a high level of geodiversity. As a result a large number of spectacular landscapes and outstanding or unique geosites are present in the country, and they are not properly managed and protected. The Lesvos Petrified Forest Geopark, the very first Greek Geopark, already counts one decade of successful operation. In order to protect and efficiently manage the petrified forest, the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest was founded in 1994 as the management body of the Lesvos Petrified Forest Geopark. Next, a management plan for geological heritage protection as well as the sustainable development of the area was carried out linking the promotion of geosites, environmental education and the development of geotourism.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 6579
Author(s):  
Fernando Morante-Carballo ◽  
Geanella Herrera-Narváez ◽  
Nelson Jiménez-Orellana ◽  
Paúl Carrión-Mero

Geodiversity treaties have multiplied and given rise to geological heritage as a singular value of protection and preservation for territories. The Puyango Petrified Forest (PPF) is a recognized Ecuadorian reserve, which was declared a National Heritage Treasure. It has an area of 2659 hectares, and it is located in the south of Ecuador, between the provinces of El Oro and Loja. The petrified trunks and trees were buried by volcanic lava, dating from the Cretaceous Period, 96 to 112 million years ago. Thus, silicification and carbonization, two important fossilization events, have produced hundreds of samples of paleontological wealth in Puyango. The objective of this work is to methodologically assess the geodiversity of a fraction of the PPF by registering its geological heritage and value for its preservation and sustainable development. The methodology is based on: (i) Analysis of information on the territory used for tourist visits, as a pilot study area. Presentation of paleontological components and their main sections to enhance their geotouristics value; (ii) Assessment of the geological heritage for its geotourism categorization with a recognized scientific methodology and one proposed by the co-authors propose; and (iii) Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) as a guide for protection and development strategies. Findings reveal the high geotourism potential for a Geopark Project in Puyango, since only 300 hectares are used for tourism and the remaining area is a virgin environment for research and improving knowledge of geodiversity and biodiversity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3736
Author(s):  
Nan Lu ◽  
Jiwei Zhu ◽  
Hui Chi ◽  
Bing Wang ◽  
Lu Chen

To achieve the sustainable development goals established by the United Nations in 2015, China has adopted a series of measures to promote the modernization of water conservancy. However, its construction in China is imbalanced across regions as the endowment of water resources and economic development are distinct. Consequently, it is important to assess the progress of and analyze the spatial heterogeneity of water conservancy modernization construction in China from the perspective of sustainable development goals (SDGs). In this study, 31 regions in China were selected, and data on water conservancy construction in these sampled regions (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) were collected in 2018. The results show that there exists an imbalanced development in terms of the overall level and the index level. About 60% of the regions scored below the overall average score for China’s current modernization of water conservancy. The eastern areas presented a high level of modernization, while the central, northeast, and western areas showed comparable modernization of water conservancy, all of which lag behind eastern areas of China. Furthermore, China’s water conservancy modernization also presented a strong spatial autocorrelation, and there was at least one deficiency in 55% of the regions, with the rate of deficiencies emerging in the West being much higher than in other regions. In a nutshell, this study provides a novel framework that can be extended to evaluate the SDGs and the effectiveness of water governance in other countries.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulrazag Mohamed Etelawi ◽  
Keith A. Blatner ◽  
Jill McCluskey

There is a strong need to study sustainability and depletion accounting of oil in the Libyan economy because oil production and export is the single largest source of national income in the country. This study covers the time period from 1990 to 2009. Throughout this period, the Libyan national economy used its oil and petroleum industries to increase national income. Development sustainability can be defined as investment divided by GDP. This measure provides an indication of the low level of sustainable development in Libya over the period of analysis, which is 0.38 on average. It is important that the Libyan government develop and implement plans and strategies for achieving sustainability and the maintenance of oil resources.Carbon dioxide emissions provide another indication of the presence or absence of sustainability. The ratio of carbon dioxide ranged from a minimum of 8.50 metric tons per capita in 1990 to 10.00 metric tons per capita in 2009 and average 9.07 metric tons per capita over the course of the study period. CO2 emissions were also much higher than other countries in the Middle East and North Africa. This suggests there was relatively little interest in the sustainable development of the Libyan economy during this period. The Environment Domestic Product (EDP) increased sharply from the beginning of the study at $24.23 billion in 1991 to $45.87 billion in 2009 in constant dollars. Again, one can infer that policy makers did not consider the depletion of oil resources and the environment in their planning process, or at least did not place a high level of concern on this issue.


2021 ◽  
Vol 94 ◽  
pp. 01018
Author(s):  
Margarita Khomyakova ◽  
Dmitry Bagretsov

The text of this article emphasizes that the history of transplantation as an independent medical industry originated in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the first successful operation to transplant human organs and tissues was performed there by the surgeon Yuri Voronoy. Today Russia is one of the world-leading powers where human organ and tissue transplant operations are performed. Among all the subjects of Russia where transplant operations are carried out, Sverdlovsk region occupies a special place: doctors in this region conduct successful operations on organ and tissue transplantation and make discoveries that are significant for Russian transplantology. The study of Russian laws and regulations regulating relations in the field of transplantology conducted by authors, as well as an analysis of the scientific literature showed that relations in the field of transplantology are not fully regulated by Russian legislation, including criminal law. On the territory of Sverdlovsk region in particular, as well as on the territory of Sverdlovsk region as a whole, it is possible, for example, to carry out transactions for the sale and purchase of human organs and tissues with impunity, if such transactions are not related to causing harm to the life and health of the victim. These deals are illegal, but not punishable. As the analysis of the practice carried out in the framework of this study has shown, the inhabitants of Sverdlovsk region suffered from the imperfection of the norms of Russian legislation regulating relations in the field of transplantology. While the residents of Sverdlovsk region are suffering from illegal transplantation, one cannot speak of the sustainable development of this region. The authors of the study, in order to combat illegal transplantation in Sverdlovsk region, propose that the regional authorities strengthen measures to improve the general legal literacy of the population, introduce a register of citizens' opinions on the posthumous transplantation of their organs and tissues, and introduce mandatory registration of transactions made in Sverdlovsk region, a subject of which are human organs and tissues.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-86
Author(s):  
Manzoor Ahmed

This paper provides a background to the on-going discourse on post-2015 global development agenda. It mentions key points from the UN Secretary General’s report on MDG progress and the process of formulating the future development agenda. The recommendations of the High Level Panel on post-2015 agenda and the work of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) are examined from the perspective of Education for Rural Transformation (ERT). It is concluded that the premise and rationale of ERT has received scant attention in the future development agenda discourse. The arguments regarding the pertinence of ERT in combating poverty and promoting sustainable development are noted, drawing on the recent UNESCO- INRULED study on this topic. 


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (313) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicja Małgorzata Graczyk

The city of Heidelberg has won twice the price of European Sustainable City Award. The paper presents the latest author’s investigation (July 2014) about the sustainable development in the Heidelberg. The aim of the article is an analyses and assessment of the implementation of sustainable development in the city. The policy and economical instruments implemented at the local level at the very early stage (early 90s) help the city to build ecological education and shape ecological style of life.. The city citizens have a very high level of ecological awareness and very often participate in policy decisions, shaping sustainable development goals of the Heidelberg. The main local priorities for sustainable development are: climate and environment protection, rising energy efficiency by using renewable energy sources, local heat district, ecological transport and building in passive standard.


2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damir Demonja ◽  
Tatjana Gredičak

Abstract Modern environment in which operate tourism-economic factors is characterized by a high level of instability and the dynamics of change. Changes with its influences determine external operating conditions, over which micro organizational units have no control. In order to successfully survive it is necessary to identify and adapt to them. Marketing strategy of cultural heritage tourist valorisation, in this context, appears as an adequate approach. Strategic management enables planning on an analysis of past events, and in a special way takes into account estimates and projections of future conditions of the environment. Also, it should take into account that the coexistence of cultural heritage with the achievements of modern life is defined with sustainable development syntax. This paper in which research, formulation and presentation of the results were used the methods of analysis and synthesis, comparative, descriptive and historical methods outlines the development and analyzes the current state of cultural tourism in Croatia, and discusses approach to effective strategic marketing management of cultural heritage tourist valorisation, focusing on the sustainable development of tourism.


2013 ◽  
Vol 821-822 ◽  
pp. 803-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya Nan He ◽  
Lin Zhang

There are abundant traditional costume resources in south Jiangsu district, such as Suzhou embroidery, clothes of watery town, blue print cloth and the others. These resources have powerful tourism values, but there are some shortages on their development, such as lack the core competitiveness product, the product grade is very low, and the brand awareness is weak, etc. So it is valuable and necessary to develop the tourism programs and merchandise with the traditional costume elements. Then we should encourage original design to inhance the competitiveness, increase the product level, win the high level consumer, propose the brand building to reach the sustainable development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-322
Author(s):  
Michał Pawleta

Archaeological Heritage in the Context of Sustainable Development The concept of sustainable development is widely declared and used in contemporary scientific dis­course. Sustainability also refers to cultural and archaeological heritage. What is an important ele­ment of the contemporary conservation doctrine is a departure from the idea of protection of ar­chaeological heritage in favour of the rational management of such heritage, in accordance with the sustainable development rationale. It follows from the premise that, on the one hand, herit­age is a subject of protection, but, on the other hand, it constitutes potential that should be adapted to new conditions and used for cultural, social, and economic development. With the above-men­tioned concept as a starting point, the paper is aimed at analysing the role that archaeological her­itage resources can play in the context of sustainable development. As an example of good practic­es implementing the idea of sustainable development based on archaeological resources, I take and discuss archaeological tourism, because it aims to promote public interest in archaeology and the protection of archaeological sites.


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