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Topical - Geoheritage
project carried out in parallel to a candidature
as a NRP according to revision of the
Nature Protection Act. Three Communes
refused the project for a NRP in 2011, and
both projects (NRP and Geopark) were,
therefore, abandoned. The last project is a
transboundary one, between Italy and Switzerland
(Insubrian Geopark). If accepted,
it should include the Golle della Breggia
Geopark. Another international geopark
could have been created: in 2012, the Chablais
Geopark (France) was accepted as a
European Geopark. At the initial stage of
the project, it was planned to develop a
geopark covering both the French and the
Swiss parts of the Chablais, but the Swiss
municipalities did not agree to carry out
the preliminary studies.
Due to the various projects that emerged
in 2004, the Working group on Geotopes
decided to develop guidelines for accompanying
local projects and establishing
a process of certification of Swiss Geoparks.
A strategic report was published in
2007 (Reynard et al., 2007) leading to the
organization of a specific workshop in
2008. In 2009, SCNAT, FOEN and the Swiss
Commission for UNESCO agreed on an
application procedure for admitting Swiss
Geoparks to the European and UNESCO
Geoparks Network. No international candidate
has been proposed yet.
Summary
Due to the presence of numerous erratic
boulders, geoheritage conservation was
initiated early in Switzerland, in the early
decades of the 19 th century, but it is only
during the last two decades that scientists
have re-discovered the heritage value of
geology and have started carrying out
inventories of geosites and development
of geoparks. The activities were coordinated
by SCNAT, which created in 1993 a specific
working group dealing with these issues.
The working group is still active and has
played an important role in the promotion
of knowledge on geoheritage, both at
a political and public level. Some Cantons
have also been quite active in protecting
and promoting their geoheritage, especially
in Eastern Switzerland.
In spite of improvements during the last
two decades, disappointments still have to
be faced. At the national level, geoscientists
have failed in their attempts to compile
an inventory with a legal value according
to the Nature Protection Act. The inventory
published in 1999 and lately revised
(2006-2012) is only a proposed list of sites
of interest proposed by the scientific community.
This situation does not simplify the
management and protection of particularly
sensitive sites.
The development of Geoparks in Switzerland
has been affected by the revision
of the Nature Protection Act in 2006. As a
matter of fact, most of the regions with a
potential for geoparks preferred developing
projects for Natural Parks due to the
available opportunity for financial support.
Nevertheless, a survey carried out on 19
projects for Natural Parks in 2009 shown
that most of the park developers have a
very poor knowledge of Geoheritage in
their parks (Fontana and Reynard, 2011).
All these reasons now lead the Working
group on Geotopes to develop more active
research and activities in Natural Parks.
Acknowledgements
The Inventory of Swiss Geosites was
supported by the Federal Office for the
Environment (FOEN) and by the Swiss
Academy of Sciences (SCNAT). The English
proofreading by Stuart N. Lane and the
suggestions proposed by Pierre Christe were
much appreciated.
References
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