Jeomorfolojik Araştırmalar Dergisi
Yazarlar: Erdal GÜMÜŞ
Konular:Yerbilimleri, Ortak Disiplinler, Fiziki Coğrafya
Anahtar Kelimeler:Geopark,Geomorphology,Geosite,Geotourism,Geodiversity,UNESCO
Özet: Human awareness on our Planet Earth has risen due to natural disasters such as global warming, extinction of species, depletion of natural resources as a result of anthropogenic activities. Until recently, nature protection meant only conservation of natural biota, where nowadays the protection of the physical environment becomes a necessity. According to the geopark philosophy, the history of the Planet Earth is no less important than the history of us. The history of natural and cultural monuments has witnessed a new concept every single century for the last 3 hundred years. geopark is the new nature protection and site management paradigm of the millennium. The Geopark concept came up existence in 2000 with the establishment of the European geoparks Network by four European countries (Greece, Germany, France, Spain). Geoparks have three aims: effective conservation of earth heritage, raising public awareness on Planet Earth via geoeducation and creating sustainable socio-economic local development based on Geotourism. Geopark ide was born in Europe and gained global recognition in 2015 under the UNESCO IGGP program. Geoparks brought new concepts and terms to nature protection and site management area such as geosite, geomorphosite, geotourism and geodiversity. Geosites and geomorphosites are natural structures and topographies which are important for understanding the history of the Planet Earth. Geodiversity term was adapted from Biodiversity refers to the richness of any kind of lithological and topographical variation. Geotourism is a new nature tourism organized within geoparks. Global distribution and density pattern of geoparks can be used as an indirect development scale for nations. Although Turkey hosts a rich geodiversity, only Kula Geopark managed to become a UNESCO Geopark. Consequently, Geographers holds a great responsibility for the international scientific recognition and utilization of Turkeys geopark potential as a sustainable local development tool.