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Society UpdateHeritage MattersThe International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)World Parks Congress is being hosted by Australia inSydney 12–19 November 2014. The congress presentsitself as an exceptional opportunity for the GSA to make a majorand lasting contribution towards establishing recognition, by theIUCN, that geology is a component of nature in managingbiodiversity in conservation areas. The 20 14 IUCN World ParksCongress (IUCN WPC) has been marketed as “the world’ s mostinfluential gathering of people involved in parks and protectedarea management”.The International Standing Committee for the IUCN WPC hasextended an invitation to the GSA, ProGEO (European Associationfor the Conservation of Geoheritage at http://www.progeo.se)and the International Association for the Promotion of Geoethics(IAPG at http://www.iapg.geoethics.org/) to participate inStream 1 – ‘Reaching Conservation Goals’ and other potentialSteams where applicable. Stream 1 is the only science-basedstream in the congress.GSA, ProGEO and IAPG will be making the case that bioticsystems, especially vegetation, are strongly linked to habitats,variable landforms, soils and hydrologic processes because:Geology is a part of Nature and therefore should berecognised as part of IUCN’s objective in conservingbiodiversity such that geology then becomes a core part ofParks management.Our objective in participating in the WPC is to engage the global‘Parks’ community in adopting an ‘ecosystem approach’ in thebroadest sense of its meaning, involving geology , geodiversityand biology — and taking geological features, landforms and soilsas an integral part of the whole nature conservation asset.In Australia, the GSA Geological Heritage Subcommittee(NSW Division), in collaboration with P arks NSW and inconsultation with the Blue Mountains W orld Heritage Team,proposes to develop a program that will lead to the inclusion ofgeology in the Global Parks Biodiversity Strategy. Since the WPCwill be held in Sydney, we plan to use the Blue Mountains WorldHeritage Area as a case study. This case study would include anexcursion to the Blue Mountains from the Lapstone Monocline,visiting some key sites a moderate distance into the plateau, todemonstrate:l geology underpinning landscape developmentl hydrological processes that need to be understood forecosystem managementl geodiversity underpinning biodiversityl geoheritage as a component of Parks management.In addition, it is proposed to:l develop an audiovisual presentation that encapsulates theabove principles with global examples addedl develop a map-sized pamphlet that encapsulates the aboveprinciples with global examples (to be provided to all WPCattendees)l engage a prominent, inspirational speaker to present theseprinciples. Possible speakers might include, for example,Iain Stewart or Sir David Attenborough.If we are successful in making the case that there is a need toinclude geology in the IUCN WPC Biodiversity Strategy — that is,that it is beneficial to conserving biodiversity (as is alreadyoccurring in a number of other countries) — the benefits to theIUCN Parks initiative will result in increased funding andopportunities for:l Earth Science researchl environmental forecastingl education and trainingl sustainable tourism based on the geoparks conceptl management of sites of geoheritage significancel integrated multidisciplinary environmental planning andmanagement, and landscape management.Other contributions at the WPC may include the valuing ofgeology, geodiversity and geoheritage as components of P arksmanagement.The IUCN World Parks Congress is timely in that it builds onthe successful sessions on Geoheritage held at the 34th IGC heldlast year. If our proposal is adopted by IUCN, it will help raiseawareness among biologists and ecologists, change the way Parksare managed and change the face of environmental, ecologicaland landscape management.Draft Geoheritage policyOn another matter, a revised Draft Geoheritage policy , whichincludes comments from members and the GeologicalHeritage Subcommittees from each State, has been finalised bythe Standing Committee. It is available on the GSA website atthe Heritage link.MARGARET BROCXConvenorStanding Committee for Geological Heritagegeoheritage@iinet.net.auTAG June 2013| 17