Conservation of geodiversity

— Manjit Kumar Mazumdar
Many unobtrusive things in the landscape like bodies of unusual rock types, landforms that preserve records of the past, significant fossil localities, stratigraphic type sections, areas where significant advances in geology were made, deposits of particular minerals, etc needs to be appreciated by all for both their value as well as beauty. Just as habitats are valuable for science, education and aesthetics, so too are geologic features. The question that comes at this juncture is that – should we treat geological treasures like endangered species. A growing movement says, yes. This is the geoconservation movement, which aims at preservation of geodiversity of our planet. This movement labels geodiversity as geoantiquities, and aims to preserve those from detrimental land uses such as mining, housing or industrial development, road construction or uncontrolled access.

The geoconservation concept evolved very rapidly in the last decade. It recognises that the non-living components of the natural environment are just as important, for nature conservation, as the living components, and just as much in need of proper management. Indeed, geoconservation is an essential basis for biodiversity conservation, as geodiversity provides the variety of environments and environmental pressures which directly influence biodiversity. The degradation of landforms, soil and water will adversely impact on the biological species and communities living in or on them. Geoconservation deals with the conservation of non-living parts of the natural environment, like geological features, landforms and soils. Thus, it aims to preserve geodiversity, and to maintain natural rates and magnitudes of change in those features and processes.

Sharples (1995) defined geodiversity as ‘the range (or diversity) of geological (bedrock), geomorphological (landform) and soil features, assemblages, systems and processes’. This brief definition implicitly includes hydrological and climatic (atmospheric) processes. A longer and more explicit definition is provided by Eberhard (1997) – ‘The natural range (diversity) of geological (bedrock), geomorphological (landform) and soil features, assemblages, systems and processes. It includes evidence for the history of the earth (evidence of past life, ecosystems and environments) and a range of processes (biological, hydrological and atmospheric) currently acting on rocks, landforms and soils’. This term is, however, not popular and its importance understood properly in this part of the globe as the term biodiversity is, despite the fact that biodiversity is dependent on geodiversity and if the latter gets threatened, the former gets also. This is evident from the fact that, whereas the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and the Biological Diversity Rules, 2004 has been enacted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, a similar Act, ensuring safeguarding of the geodiversity of the country still requires to be thought of. While there are numerous write-ups on biodiversity in the print media, that pertaining to geodiversity and its conservation is extremely scarce.

However, in the European nations, as well as in certain other developed nations, there exist stringent geoconservation laws. At the 883rd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies on 5 May 2004, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, adopted the Recommendation Rec (2004) on conservation of the geological heritage and areas of special geological interest. Accordingly, it recommended that government of member states identify in their territories areas of special geological interest, develop national strategies and guidelines for the protection and management of areas of special geological interest, reinforce existing legal instruments or develop new ones to protect areas of special geological interest, support information and education programmes to promote action in the field of geological heritage conservation, and allocate adequate financial resources to support the various geoconservation initiatives. The Nature and Landscape Protection Act of 1992 adopted by the Czech National Council, ensures protection of selected mineral deposits, palaeontological findings and geomorphological and geological phenomena, and protection of the landscape for environmentally appropriate forms of economic utilisation, tourism and recreation.

Geological heritage or geoheritage, is the ‘valuable’ part of geodiversity. Eberhard (1997) defined it as ‘the components of geodiversity that are important to humans for purposes other than resource exploitation; things we would wish to retain for present and future generations’. Geoheritage may be of value to humans as providing scientific evidence of the past development of the Earth and of the evolution of life on Earth, sites of importance for research and education, features of recreational or tourism significance, features which play a role in the cultural or spiritual values of human communities, features which inspires us because of their aesthetic qualities, etc. It is fundamental to note that geoheritage refers to the conservation values of rocks, landforms and soils, as distinct from the utilitarian resource values derived from the removal, processing or manipulation of rocks, landforms and soils by means such as mining, engineering or agriculture.

Geoconservation of geoheritage currently is being practised through geoparks, in different corners of the globe. The 32 geoparks from 13 countries affiliated to the European Geoparks Network, 138 geoparks of China, and other geoparks in countries like Malaysia, Iran and Brazil, are contributing immensely to the economic well-being of the people of those regions. Several other countries like Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Canada, Venezuela, Turkey, Switzerland, Serbia, etc are in advance stages of planning for setting up of national geoparks. With the full endorsement of the UNESCO, 56 geoparks from 17 countries currently is affiliated to the Global Geoparks Network. The UNESCO defines geoparks as territories encompassing one or more sites of scientific importance, not only for geological reasons but also by virtue of their archaeological, ecological and cultural values. The concept has its roots in 1996 and is now rapidly developing into a global concept.
(The writer teaches Geology in Pragjyotish College)
source: assam tribune editorial 19.09.08