scholarly journals From Geoheritage to Geoeducation, Geoethics and Geotourism: A Critical Evaluation of the Greek Region

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 381 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Zafeiropoulos ◽  
Hara Drinia ◽  
Assimina Antonarakou ◽  
Nikolaos Zouros

The purpose of this review is, initially, to emphasize the importance of geoenvironmental education for the promotion and preservation of geological heritage and geoethical values, and based on these, to present the current situation in Greece. Geoeducation is a broader component of environmental education which aims to promote the geological heritage of a place and its geoconservation. It is a key integral tool for tackling environmental issues and therefore further assisting in sustainable development. Greece is known for its exceptional and rare natural beauty, as well as for the abundance of natural resources and its remarkable geological features. For this reason, six global geoparks have already been established in this country. However, its nature protection is mainly considered as the protection of biodiversity, while the term “geodiversity” is almost absent in Greek law. The importance of establishing a legal framework for the protection of geotopes is underlined by the fact that their promotion and rational management create opportunities for sustainable development, as well as to become quality tourist destinations (geotourism) through nature protection and education. Geodiversity can gain public attention and have a positive impact on geotopes protection. Such initiatives can not only improve the protection of geological sites, but also play an important role in their sustainable development.

Geodiversity presents overall diversity of relief shapes, processes and the diversity of landscape. It basically consists of geological, geomorphological and pedological diversity. The most interesting for tourism valorisation are karstic areas that cover over 50% of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. When it comes to geoparks, it is necessary to emphasize that such forms of protection have not yet been established in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The European Geopark Network exsist since 2000 and currently there are 140 geoparks in the 38 countries in Europe. Three geoparks stand out in our region; in Slovenia, Idrija and Karavanke (together with part in Austria) and Papuk in Croatia. Their main goals are promotion of geoheritage, protection of geodiversity and support of economic development through geotourism, with the inevitable participation of local communities. In the meantime, this initiative has been raised to a global level by including these areas in the newly adopted UNESCO program - International Geodetic and Geopark Program, which now has over 130 parks in 33 countries of the world. In our country, Blidinje Nature Park and the Protected landscape of Bijambare, have potential for becoming geopark. These parks would be based on promotion of the geological heritage, the geodiversity of the karst zone of Bosnia and Herzegovina, preservation of biodiversity and the protection of specific karst hydrography of this area. The plan for protecting these areas and potential admission to the European geopark network should primarily be based on a new legal framework and a plan that would include sustainable development of geotourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


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.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bohdanna Kosovych

The article is devoted to the study of the role of entrepreneurship as an important component of the national economy in the establishment of the internationally recognized Sustainable Development Goals in Ukrainian society. Entrepreneurship has been established to promote the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals primarily through participation in solving humanistic oriented social problems related to human rights security, nature protection, resource conservation and rational reproduction, overcoming global challenges, etc. New opportunities have been opened for expansion of directions of functioning of the enterprise on all chains of activity on maintenance of sustainable development. An illustration of the positive society's perception of such humanistic oriented entrepreneurship are certain preferences of the state for business that works in the prism of the Sustainable Development Goals. Stages and mechanism of implementation of Sustainable Development Goals in entrepreneurship are determined. The main directions of ensuring the development of entrepreneurship aimed at implementing the Sustainable Development Goals are considered. Entrepreneurship can provide a positive impact on the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals by: addressing important issues of resource conservation and revitalization (using an inclusive approach, generating innovative ideas, technologies), using new opportunities in the development of person’s own business; introduction of principles of sustainability and respect for the person, environment and a law and order in the corporate behavior and practice of activity of the enterprise; active participation in the creation or modernization of person’s own activity in accordance with the objectives of achieving Sustainable Development Goals, especially the formation of infrastructure, various platforms, partnerships for sustainable development, etc. Usually these areas require from entrepreneurship some efforts, first of all, time and financial resources. Entrepreneurship shall also be supported by the state in order to intensify such humanization ideas. The idea of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in business replaces the established practice with new approaches providing not only profit but also economic and social well-being.


Author(s):  
Arin Fithriana ◽  
Woro Nopitasari

Halal has become a lifestyle that encompasses various aspects of life. The acceptance of halal standards is not only dominated by countries with Muslim populations, but also countries with a non-Muslim majority. This acceptance is based on an understanding of the sustainability and impact of halal products and services on whole life. Modest fashion Indonesia has spread worldwide and represents halal lifestyle. Modest fashion has become a tourist attraction and helped establish good relationship between Indonesia and world fashion. In this case, modest fashion serves as a tool of diplomacy. Unfortunately, modest fashion potency as supporter for tourism development has not been integrated well. This paper explores how modest fashion as a tool of diplomacy through creativity supports tourism. This is because the existence of tourism encourages multiplayer effects for other economic activities. Indonesia's cultural diversity and local wisdom should be an integral part of Indonesia's halal tourism. The contribution of fashion modest as a tool of diplomacy in creative industry to support halal tourism is analyzed using qualitative method through secondary data. The data show the development and acceptance of Indonesian modest fashion as well as its creativity utilizing culture and local wisdom has been widely accepted globally, but has not been fully exploited yet. Modest fashion has established good relationship between international actors. Integrating modest fashion with local wisdom and culture encourages the exploration of tourist destinations that are expected to encourage other halal standards in tourism. Ultimately it is expected to have a positive impact on sustainable development.


2020 ◽  
pp. 753-770
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Slusarza ◽  
Marek Cierpial-Wolan

The values of the natural environment in the subject literature are commonly indicated as an asset conducive to development shaping the competitiveness of areas with such values. The paper attempts to assess the use of endogenous potential of such areas in shaping the multifunctional, sustainable development of rural areas that have such qualities. In particular, the aim was to check to what extent the sme sector, dominating in the economic structure of rural areas, solves the key problem of labour market imbalance and population migration in environmentally valuable areas. The area of detailed research is Podkarpacie, the Polish region considered as a peripheral, border region, the least urbanized region with the highest share of areas covered by various forms of nature protection and forestation, with one of the lowest gdp per capita indicator in the country. For the purpose of implementing the research assumptions, a taxonomic unit (using the complete linkage method) consisting of powiats with the highest concentration of features characteristic for rural areas of high natural values was separated. Synthetic indicators calculated on the basis of the Hellwig taxonomic development pattern method and a positional method using Weber's median were used to assess the diversity of entrepreneurship level. The research confirmed that the non-agricultural economic activity sector is less developed in areas of high natural value. Despite positive developments in the enterprise sector, their potential is too weak an economic base for addressing unsustainable labour market problems, as evidenced by high unemployment and a high negative migration balance. This limits the use of the endogenous potential of these areas and is not conducive to the concept of multifunctional, sustainable development. Migration poses a threat to the depopulation of these areas with all the negative consequences associated with such processes. This is a challenge for the studied areas and regional policy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-193
Author(s):  
Jovana Radulović ◽  
Tijana Milanović ◽  
Radica Jovanović

In the conditions of the global economic crisis, technical and technological and social changes, entrepreneurship is imposed as a counterbalance to globalization, due to uncertain market factors and destabilized national economies. One of the world's socioeconomic side effects is global solidarity: a way of thinking about society and the environment that makes ecology along with small and medium-sized enterprises the main parameters of economic reforms on a global scale. Bearing in mind that entrepreneurship represents a specific, tangible approach to making profit in terms of observing and exploiting business opportunities in the market, dictated by innovative, technological and social conditions, companies around the world, and at the level of development strategies of government governments, implement the concept of sustainable development into their business plans , focusing not only on financial gain, but also on the social aspect of having a positive impact on society. The ecological dimension of sustainable development relates primarily to the broader notion of profit making: the ability of society to change for the better in the fields of employment, education, recycling and cultural activities. Companies based on ecological principles are now called sustainable / ecological enterprises, and an economy based on the study of environmental resources for environmental economies. However, the education itself and the development of ethics on the environment in the environment are largely hampered by the development of ecological entrepreneurship, since the destruction of the Earth's ecosystems is not provable with sufficient scientific truth, and on the other hand, global NGOs constantly point to the advantage of an ecological business model as an investment asset because the environmental problem global, and therefore allows for international cooperation, while ecological companies create value in the same way as ecosystems: not producing waste or wasting unsustainable resources.


Author(s):  
Geoffrey Jones

This chapter examines the scaling and diffusion of green entrepreneurship between 1980 and the present. It explores how entrepreneurs and business leaders promoted the idea that business and sustainability were compatible. It then examines the rapid growth of organic foods, natural beauty, ecological architecture, and eco-tourism. Green firms sometimes grew to a large scale, such as the retailer Whole Foods Market in the United States. The chapter explores how greater mainstreaming of these businesses resulted in a new set of challenges arising from scaling. Organic food was now transported across large distances causing a negative impact on carbon emissions. More eco-tourism resulted in more air travel and bigger airports. In other industries scaling had a more positive impact. Towns were major polluters, so more ecological buildings had a positive impact.


Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Marie-Luise Frey

From the middle of the 1990s, geotourism was introduced through the first geotrails, their evolution, and the first geopark worldwide in Gerolstein/Vulkaneifel, Germany. The latter is one of the founding members of the European Geoparks Network, which was established in 2000 at the International Tourism Bourse (ITB) in Berlin. The main goal of the first geopark was to link geological heritage with tourism in a rural area that was trying to create new perspectives to inspire young people to stay in their home territory. Geotourism was initiated as part of sustainable tourist development and for future sustainable development at that time in the Gerolstein region. The first steps to implement the Gerolstein/Vulkaneifel Geopark, Germany, were taken in 1992. The core aspects included geological heritage, science transfer, and education as tools for developing geotourism in the broad sense and integrating local people and municipalities in the geopark activities of the rural region. Close collaboration with the local and regional tourism organizations highlighted the need to both define tools and demonstrate their success. Up to now, practice has shown that such success can be demonstrated by the infrastructure created, as well as adjacent measures and activities. A network of factors was determined to play a significant role in ensuring the successful sustainable development in a geopark across the field of geotourism. There are many activities and publications on geological heritage, geosite assessment, significance, and use, but there are fewer which reflect on the network of factors highlighted in this contribution which were first presented in 2002. In many publications and investigations, one factor in particular is emphasized, e.g., infrastructure development, such as panels or other items. Not all of the mentioned factors, however, are being addressed. As a result, a selection of good practice examples of UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGP) working on the network-oriented conceptual basis has been studied here, in line with the conceptual principle set forth about 25 years ago. The geopark examples in this study include Lesvos Island UGGp (Greece), Naturtejo UGGP (Portugal), Vulkaneifel UGGp (Germany), and Hong Kong UGGP (China), as well as the example of the Messel Pit World Heritage Site (WHS) (Germany). The latter was integrated to present an example which is not a geopark, showing that this concept can also be transferred to a WHS as a tool for sustainable development according the UN 2030 Agenda. The information on the development of the selected examples was obtained by visiting the geopark territory and from the geopark’s websites and published material as a combined methodology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1614
Author(s):  
Boyi Liang ◽  
Timothy A. Quine ◽  
Hongyan Liu ◽  
Elizabeth L. Cressey ◽  
Ian Bateman

To meet the sustainable development goals in rocky desertified regions like Guizhou Province in China, we should maximize the crop yield with minimal environmental costs. In this study, we first calculated the yield gap for 6 main crop species in Guizhou Province and evaluated the quantitative relationships between crop yield and influencing variables utilizing ensembled artificial neural networks. We also tested the influence of adjusting the quantity of local fertilization and irrigation on crop production in Guizhou Province. Results showed that the total yield of the selected crops had, on average, reached over 72.5% of the theoretical maximum yield. Increasing irrigation tended to be more consistently effective at increasing crop yield than additional fertilization. Conversely, appropriate reduction of fertilization may even benefit crop yield in some regions, simultaneously resulting in significantly higher fertilization efficiency with lower residuals in the environment. The total positive impact of continuous intensification of irrigation and fertilization on most crop species was limited. Therefore, local stakeholders are advised to consider other agricultural management measures to improve crop yield in this region.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1546
Author(s):  
Paolo Guarnaccia ◽  
Silvia Zingale ◽  
Alessandro Scuderi ◽  
Ezio Gori ◽  
Vincenzo Santiglia ◽  
...  

The alignment of food systems with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is generally envisaged to make a positive impact on sustainability. This paper outlines some critical environmental and socio-economic indicators for Sicily in order to compare and explore the outcomes of two juxtaposing key drivers in a scenario planning exercise, where the extremities are Industrial versus Regenerative Agriculture/Agroecology and a Proactive versus Reactive government response. The most rational and less risky scenario becomes the most sensible sustainable development option, around which a 2030 vision is projected for a bioregional sustainable food system for Sicily, which is aligned with the SDGs and related policies. To accomplish the 2030 vision, a holistic education-led developmental approach is outlined with a supporting bioregional strategic framework, whose key milestone deliverables are projected through a backcasting process. This paper therefore highlights the importance of consistency and alignment of a development vision with its strategic framework and ensuing implementation, failing which, the holistic bioregional approach is compromised by activities that are shown to negatively impact environmental and socio-economic indicators. For this reason, all public and private sector development plans and associated resources ought to be aligned with a bioregional strategic plan for a sustainable food system for Sicily.


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