Some observations and reflections on geodiversity, the oft-forgotten half of nature

Abstract

Geodiversity first emerged nearly 30 years ago in the wake of the Convention on Biological Diversity when geoscientists realised that they too study diverse natural phenomena that are also often threatened with loss or degradation resulting from human activities. Since then, geodiversity has emerged as an important geoscientific paradigm with a central position in the relationships between the geoscientific ‘Gs'. It has spawned much discussion on how geodiversity can be classified and measured, it is often used as the basis for selecting geoheritage sites for geoconservation, including the development of the World Heritage List, it is often used by geoparks to publicise their range of geofeatures, and it is the basis for many ‘geosystem services’ essential to our modern societies. But despite this importance, it is a poorly understood and poorly integrated into nature conservation policy and practice. The result is that the value of the whole of nature is underestimated and the policy and practice for the management of nature lacks integration.

Geodiversity data for Europe

“…[96,97]), and in protected areas [98]. Classifying and measuring geodiversity is not straightforward (as also discussed by [2]), yet our data provides a starting point for quantitative assessment of geodiversity at large geographical extent. However, this data also contain qualitative information on geofeatures, which makes it applicable for multiple purposes.…”

“…Geodiversity encompasses the diversity of geological (rocks, minerals, fossils), pedological (soil), geomorphological (landforms, topography) and hydrological (groundwater, water bodies) features and processes [ 1 ]. Despite being an integral part of natural diversity (the abiotic equivalent of ‘biodiversity'; [ 2 ]), there is limited understanding of the spatial distribution of geodiversity. While geodiversity has intrinsic, conservational, cultural and educational value, it also has great potential in advancing our understanding of biodiversity in the era of rapid environmental and climatic changes [ 3 , 4 ].…”

Case studies associated with the 10 major geodiversity-related topics

“…I am on record as saying that this method undermines ‘the full richness of geodiversity, one of its most important characteristics. What is being measured is not total geodiversity since small-scale features/subtle differences will be missed using small-scale maps…neither maps nor remote sensing can identify/interpret dynamic processes, functions or origins…’ [ 18 , p. 609] and ‘As a result, many of these studies oversimplify geodiversity to a quite extraordinary extent and, in many ways, are the antithesis of geodiversity’ [ 19 , p. 15]. This is not to say that geodiversity measurement is not relevant in certain circumstances, but we need to improve our measurement methods.…”

Towards a taxonomy of geodiversity

“…Geodiversity information is required for several scientific and applied purposes (e.g. [2,[8][9][10][11]). Both qualitative and quantitative data on geodiversity are needed in conservation actions [12][13][14], to sustain nature's services to people [15,16], to provide a sound basis for environmental management [17] and to achieve sustainable development goals [18][19][20].…”