hanjiHuh Min, administrator of Korea Heritage Service, right, poses with the "KGA Korea Declaration" printed on hanji (Korean traditional paper) at BEXCO, Busan on May 27. [KOREA HERITAGE SERVICE]
BUSAN — Biodiversity has long taken precedence over geodiversity in the inscription of natural Unesco World Heritage sites, with the preservation of plant and animal species receiving greater attention than geological heritage.
A new global initiative endorsed by the International Union for Conseration of Nature (IUCN), an advisory body to Unesco's World Heritage Convention, aims to change that by fortifying the role of geology in the realm of natural heritage.
Related Article
The initiative introduces a new designation program called Key Geoheritage Areas (KGA), referring to sites with significant geological features — including rocks, minerals, fossils and soils — that represent past or ongoing Earth processes and deepen global understanding of the planet’s history.
