Celebrating 50 years of global initiatives promoting geoconservation and geological heritage

Abstract

The last five decades were crucial for the development of geoconservation and for the recognition that some geological features are at risk and need to be properly protected and managed. This recognition is happening at two levels. On one hand, the raise of awareness in certain countries of the importance of geoconservation is pushing international organizations to include this topic in their policies and strategies. On the other hand, this change at the international level is contributing to more countries understand that they need to integrate geoconservation policies in their statutory system and to create effective measures to guarantee the conservation of geological heritage. This paper presents an overview of the main international efforts made during the last 50 years that have significantly changed the scenario in what concerns the place of geoconservation inside the global nature conservation agenda.