Korea leads new global push for geoheritage conservation

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

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. 

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.

The initiative, aimed at expanding recognition for geoheritage sites worldwide, was officially adopted last year as an agenda item of the IUCN under the leadership of the Korea Heritage Service (KHS).

A global symposium on the initiative was held at Bexco, Busan on Wednesday with some 150 geology experts in attendance to discuss ways to develop a global platform for managing potential KGA sites around the world and Korea's possible role in the effort. 

"Today marks the first meeting where discussions on how KGA should operate to preserve, maintain and further develop key geoheritage sites," said KHS Administrator Huh Min on Wednesday. "I am grateful that the first official meeting on KGA was able to be held in Korea."

"I hope today serves as a turning point for meaningful changes in geological heritage policies around the world and for practical measures that can be applied on the ground. I also hope the dinosaur fossil sites along Korea’s southern coast, which have remained on Unesco’s tentative list for decades, will finally earn their rightful place as a World Heritage site, and that international cooperation centered around the KGA will grow even stronger."

Two sites from Korea are currently inscribed as world natural heritage sites by the Unesco: getbol, or Korean tidal flats, and Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes.

Participants announced the "KGA Korea Declaration" following the symposium, outlining the initiative's vision and future plans.

Key participants of the symposium acknowledged KHS in playing an active role in establishing the foundations for the initiative.

"Korea Heritage Service was the only government agency to morally support the resolution of KGA," said Robbert Casier, a World Heritage Programme Development Officer at the IUCN. 

"Because of the leadership of the KHS and Huh, this idea was able to be advanced. And now ICUN can help make the bridge between KGA heritage area initiative and World Heritage because we know how both frameworks work and our aim is to bring it all together in something coherent that actually leads to more world heritage sites in Korea and other parts of the world."

KGA plans to receive participants twice a year. It predicted that it would receive nominations for KGA designation by the end of this year.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]