NEWS

GeoEcoMar organized during November 24-25, 2022 the “Geological Reserves in Romania – Evaluation, Geo-conservation, Interpretation” Conference. The event was part of the PN 19 20 05 02 project (Valorization and promotion of geological heritage in Romania by developing a unified geo-conservation strategy at the national level”) and was organized in partnership with the National Forum of Geo-parks in Romania and with Geological Society of Romania.

The conference program included the presentation and discussion of the Romanian Geological Heritage Database, which is a product of the Nucleus Project 19 20 05 02, four scientific sessions and the round table “Geological Heritage: From Declaration to Geo-conservation”.

The roundtable focused on three important themes for the scientific community – “Geo-conservation strategies – what do they entail?”, “Action plans for geo-diversity: how can they be implemented?” and “The role of the geological community: how do we get involved?”. Following the debates, the participants agreed on some lines of action. First, the creation of a coalition for geodiversity, as an informal body, representing the voice of geologists in the public space and consisting of specialists, associations, institutes and universities. This body should have a consultative role in making legislative decisions concerning the field, the best example of this being the recent bill amending the Ordinance of 2007 on protected areas, where geodiversity is not present at all. Secondly, the creation of a geodiversity council, to be requested by the Ministry of the Environment in granting approvals within protected areas

Currently, in Romania there are several natural monuments and geological reserves of national importance, which appeared thanks to a joint effort, which involved universities, geological museums and research institutions from all over the country. Although most of these geological and paleontological reserves are included in the Natura 2000 biodiversity protection network, not all of them benefit from geoconservation measures.

Project number: PN 23 30 04 01

Project Monitoring and evaluation of protected natural areas from UNESCO geoparks and aspiring geoparks in Romania and development of a CITIZEN SCIENCE platform

Funded by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization (https://www.research.gov.ro/)