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National Forum of Italian Geoparks
The National Forum of Italian Geoparks was inaugurated on Wednesday 17th February 2010 by the new Nature House of the Park in Villa Santi in the very fascinating winter landscape of Adamello Brenta Geopark. The inauguration of the National Forum follows a request of the EGN after the 23rd Meeting in Sardinia Geominerario Geopark.
To the inauguration took part the official representative of the five Italian Geoparks (Adamello Brenta, Beigua, Madonie, Rocca di Cerere, Geominerario Sardinia) and the representative of the most important national organizations which deal with geological heritage and environmental and cultural protection: the Italian National Commission for UNESCO, the National Geological Survey at Ispra (Superior Institute for Protection and Environmental Research), the GeoItalia FIST (Italian Federation of Earth Science, which gathers all the scientific associations that deal with Earth Sciences in Italy), the Italian Federation of Parks and Natural Reserves (Federparchi), which constitutes also the Italian Section of EUROPARC Federation and has also the function of General Secretariat of Italian Committee of IUCN).
The inauguration was chaired by the EGN Coordinator Prof. Nickolas Zouros.
During the meeting has been approved a proper regulation about the functioning of the National Forum and there has been defined the aims of the Forum, which are:
- to best coordinate the Italian Geoparks’ initiatives;
- to promote the development of new Italian Geoparks;
- to promote new projects for the valorisation of the geological heritage at a national level;
- to provide information and popularize the International Network of Geoparks (EGN/GGN) through the various communication tools (website, specialized magazines, newsletters, newspapers, etc);
- to create new opportunity of integration between the many national activities direct to the growing of geological heritage’s policy and to the development of geotourism;
- to provide a technical and scientific support to the territories who want to submit to the EGN/GGN;
- to organize an annual workshop in order to exchange best practice and to popularize the various projects and activities of the Geoparks, the geological heritage conservation and the realization of virtuous actions for the sustainable development.
Consistently with the advice given from the EGN Coordination Committee, it has been decided that, in some occasions, representative of other national organizations for tourism, Universities dealing with research, geoconservation and geotourism can take part to the Forum.
Among the various initiatives which will carry out, the Forum decided some activities:
- implementation of the official website of the EGN (www.europeangeoparks.org) in the Italian language
- dissemination of information about EGN and GGN through the official web-sites of the Italian National Commission for UNESCO, the Geoitalia FIST, the National Geological National Survey at ISPRA and the Italian Federation of Parks and Nature Reserves
- organization of a common activities plan for the year 2010 in range the "Decade ONU of Training Sustainable Development"
- common participation in the major conferences and workshops related to the Earth Sciences which will take place in Italy in the years 2010-2011
- arrangement of popular common information material.
The Forum has appointed a National Coordinator, Maurizio Burlando, director of the Regional Nature Park of Beigua - Beigua Geopark and member of the Advisory Committee of the EGN, which will implement its charge for the next two years. The secretary’s office of the National Forum was established at the headquarters of Beigua Geopark in Arenzano (GE).
It was finally decided that the next Forum of National Italians Geoparks will take place next December in Rome.
2nd WORKSHOP OF ITALIAN GEOPARKS
In the next two days - the 18th and February 19th 2010 - also by Villa Santi, the Adamello Brenta Geopark Nature House, was held the 2nd Workshop of Italian Geoparks.
Forty representatives of Geoparks and protected areas from Lazio, Marche, Sicily, Sardinia, Piedmont, Tuscany, Lombardy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Emilia Romagna, Liguria, Campania and Tuscany - all of them entities involved in the protection and enhancement of the geological heritage - are going to be members of the EGN.
The two strong working days have allowed the Italians Geoparks’ network, which under the auspices of UNESCO is growing around the world knowing each other better, exchanging the various experiences undertaken in the planning and communication and setting conditions and methods of working together for the future.
The workshop also focused the recent awarded of the Dolomites as new site of the World Heritage List of UNESCO, the "Via Geoalpina" initiative as example of international co-operation included in the activities organized for the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) and the Italian Applications which will be assessed by the EGN during the year 2010.
It was very relevant and useful the presentation of the Director of the Adamello Brenta Geopark Claudio Ferrari and his staff about the new Adamello Brenta Geopark’s Action Plan, easy but at the same time great and strategic tool, which Nickolas Zouros, the EGN’s coordinator, described as an excellent starting point for building a common Action Plan format for all the Geoparks of the EGN and GGN.
By the Adamello Brenta Geopark will be created the database of communication tools adopted by the various Italian Geoparks.
Finally, it was a very pragmatic workshop where new working initiatives were discussed and agreed to improve the networking of different actors in Italy to protect and enhance the geological heritage.
The 3rd Workshop of Geoparks will be held in Italy in the spring of 2011 and will be hosted in the Madonie Geopark in Sicily.
