Criteria for Assessing Geological Sites in National Parks: a Study in the Itatiaia National Park, Brazil

Abstract

Interest in geoconservation has been growing since the 1990s and, therefore, several actions have been taken to integrate geoheritage in scientific research, public policies and nature conservation. In this context, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has included many initiatives to integrate geodiversity and geoheritage in a broader nature concept in its agenda. In Brazil, the protected areas follow IUCN's guidelines. Thus, this study aimed to map the distribution of geoconservation research in Brazilian National Parks and to discuss the criteria and procedures applied in the inventory of geological sites in the Itatiaia National Park that can be adapted to other Brazilian protected areas. The applied methods were carried out based on the literature review, geoprocessing techniques and application of criteria and parameters to ensure the proper assessment of geological sites. The results show that geoconservation research in national parks has been growing over the years, and the geosites located in them may compound a potential list to be included in the Brazilian geoheritage inventory. Furthermore, the application of pre-established criteria in the selection of geological sites made the qualitative process more transparent, and the identification of additional values showed to be a useful tool to help park managers to integrate geological sites in the management process. Therefore, the criteria and parameters applied in this paper may be replicated in existing Brazilian National Parks and should be considered when assessing potential areas for establishing new protected areas.

Geotourism Hazards and Carrying Capacity in Geosites of Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat Karst, Indonesia

“…Geological heritage protection is the aim of a Geopark [10][11][12], defined by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as a nationally protected area that contains a number of geological heritage sites of particular importance, rarity, or aesthetic appeal, and is one element in an integrated concept of protection, education, and sustainable development [13]. Geoparks represent a novel approach in natural and geological heritage protection and play important roles in cultural sustainability in rural areas [14][15][16][17], while encouraging scientific research, public education, and local economic development [16,17].…”

Geoconservation strategies as a subsidy to foster interpretation in protected areas: a case study from the Itatiaia National Park, Brazil

“…The lack of geoscientific content in educational and interpretative programmes is not exclusive to this PA. For many years nature conservation policies focused their efforts on biodiversity, while geodiversity was neglected. Some of the reasons for these differences could be explained by the idea that geological features are static and do not need special measures for their conservation, the low awareness within society about the importance of conserving key geological sites and the restricted number of researchers on geodiversity and geoconservation in PAs (Gray, 2013;Crofts et al, 2020, Mucivuna et al, 2022b.…”

“…The literature on geoconservation research in Brazilian National Parks was reviewed to map the coverage of structural provinces (Almeida et al, 1981;Schobbenhaus and Neves, 2003), biomes and coastal marine systems (IBGE, 2019a). After compiling a list of national parks, a literature survey on each of them was carried out (Mucivuna et al, 2022b).…”

“…In addition, 35 publications (e.g., papers, theses, monographs) were selected. Based on the previously described criteria, a total of 41 studies were analysed in detail on their distribution in Brazilian structural provinces (Almeida et al, 1981), biomes and coastal marine systems (IBGE, 2019a) (Mucivuna et al, 2022b).…”

“…This step was carried out to recognise the links between geodiversity and additional values. As a result, the following values were identified: (i) ecological value: the importance of geodiversity elements to support fauna and flora, (ii) aesthetic value: relationship of the observation conditions with the scenic value; and (iii) cultural value: relationship of geological sites with historical, religious and artistic values (Mucivuna et al, 2022b).…”