The regulations for the Viana do Castelo coastal geopark, which provide for the creation of a municipal council for the management of this heritage, will be open for public discussion today for a period of 30 days, according to the publication in Diário da República (DR).
According to the document, consulted today by the Lusa agency, the municipal management council will be “an advisory body for reflection and consultation, representative of the different local social actors, with the mission of establishing a permanent structure for debate and participation in relation to all relevant matters within the scope of the development of the Viana do Castelo Coastal Geopark program”.
The “territory of the Viana do Castelo coastal geopark, recognized by UNESCO’s National Commission as an aspiring World Geopark, covers the area of the municipality, around 320 square kilometers, and has an exceptional geological heritage that allows us to understand fundamental aspects of how the territory that is now Viana do Castelo has evolved over the last 570 million years”.
The implementation of the Viana do Castelo coastal geopark program “resulted in the classification of 13 areas as Local Natural Monuments, the creation of a science school network and support for scientific research, the installation of interpretation infrastructures in the classified areas, the launch of a website, mobile application and virtual tour”.
The geopark also includes a network of geopark gates in Neiva, Arga and Atlântico, which are entry points into the territory for the promotion and dissemination of local heritage.
“Geoparks, especially since their recognition by UNESCO and their inclusion in the International Geosciences and Geoparks Program, have been referred to as a new and important form of territorial management based on the sustainable development of territories, with a special focus on geotourism, also combining geoeducation and geoconservation,” says the draft regulation published today in the Official Gazette.
“Geotourism aims to stimulate the creation of economic activities based on the region’s geodiversity, involving the local community, education aims to promote the study of geosciences among schools and the general public, and geoconservation aims to safeguard the geological heritage of a given region for future generations.”
In 2014, UNESCO created the World Geoparks Network in partnership with the International Union of Geological Sciences, with the aim of distinguishing natural areas with high geological value, in which a sustainable development strategy based on geology and other natural or human values is in place.
The Viana do Castelo Coastal Geopark is among those aspiring to receive the UNESCO label.
The inventory of the geopark project began in 2010. The classification of the municipality’s geological heritage, which includes a total of 13 natural monuments, was completed in 2018.
