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Book review:
Geoheritage in Europe and its conservation
Sylvia Smith-Meyer and Hanneke van den Ancker*
Geoheritage in Europe and its conservation
by W.A.P. Wimbledon & S. Smith - Meyer (eds.)
Expected date of publication: November – December
2012
How to order? Information on how to purchase
the book are available on the ProGEO website:
www.progeo.se.
Europe is diverse in geology, landscapes,
countries and history. The
new ProGEO book, Geoheritage in
Europe and its conservation, gives an overview
of the different situations re: geoconservation
in Europe. It is the first time such
an overview has been produced.
Contributions from 37 countries are
arranged in alphabetic order. Each country
has its own chapter of about 10 - 14 pages.
Each chapter follows the same pattern and
starts with a general introduction; a short
overview of the most important geoheritage
of that country and its history of geoconservation.
These paragraphs are followed by a
description of the geoconservation policies
and strategies as well as the legal frameworks
for protection. Practices and legislation
vary considerably between countries,
but there appears to be a mutual basis for
geoconservation throughout the continent.
The text then proceeds with a concise
description of the management of geodiversity
and geological heritage, and the organizations
that are active in these fields. Each
chapter ends with literature, addresses, a
summary and future challenges.
The book is published by ProGEO, the
European Association for the Conservation
of the Geological Heritage, a network
that promotes the conservation of Europe’s
rich heritage of landscapes, rocks, fossils
and mineral sites, involving all countries in
Europe, exchanging ideas and information
in an open forum, including the formulation
of conventions and ideas for legislation.
The book is co-dedicated to the late Dr.
Gerard Gonggrijp of the Netherlands, who
proposed the production of this book at the
beginning of the 1990s. His early death prevented
him from seeing the book become
a reality. Gerard Gonggrijp was also one of
the founders of “The Working Group for
Earth Science Conservation”, as ProGEO
was called in its early days, and was its first
executive secretary. He thought the book
would be an important product in achieving
the ProGEO aim of sharing information and
that it could act as a source for inspiration
for the different countries.
The political situation and legislative
frameworks of the European countries will
change over the years. The ProGEO website
will regularly provide information to update
the content of the book.
Book review:
An interview with Prof Dr Murray Gray about the new edition of his book:
Geodiversity, valuing and conserving abiotic nature
Hanneke van den Ancker*
In 2004, for the first time, a book with
GEODIVERSITY in big capitals on its
cover was published, by Wiley: Geodiversity,
valuing and conserving abiotic
nature. The book examined whether you
could look at the physical environment of
our planet in a similar way that the concept
of biodiversity has done for the living elements
of Earth. Since its publication, the
author Dr. Murray Gray has been invited by
many countries to explain and forward the
idea of geodiversity and geoconservation,
including USA, Canada, Norway, Netherlands,
Portugal, Poland, Hong Kong &
Malaysia. He is now Reader Emeritus at
Queen Mary, University of London and
*
Coordinator Geoheritage NL and Coordinator
of the EFG Panel on Geological Heritage,
info@geoheritage.nl
Visiting Professor in the School of Earth
Sciences at the University of Minho, Portugal.
He has seen the beauty of geodiversity
in many parts of the world and recognizes
the numerous problems to be overcome for
its sustainable management.
The second edition of his book will be
published in the spring of 2013, a perfect
moment to look back with the author on
ten years of geodiversity.
The book led to the inauguration of a
university undergraduate course on geodiversity
and geoconservation at Queen Mary,
University of London in 2005. Professor
Gray is still involved in this course and in
teaching the Masters course in Geoheritage
and Geoconservation at the University of
Minho, Braga, Portugal.
Figure 1: Dr. Murray Gray.
He is also the Chairman of the Planning
Committee of a UK National Park and has
been a local councillor in eastern England
for over 20 years.
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