Non-Uniform Distribution of Geoheritage Resources in Geoparks—Problems, Challenges and Opportunities

Piotr Migoń () and Edyta Pijet-Migoń
Additional contact information
Piotr Migoń: Institute of Geography and Regional Development, University of Wrocław, pl. Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137 Wrocław, Poland
Edyta Pijet-Migoń: Faculty of Finance and Management, WSB Merito University in Wrocław, ul. Fabryczna 29–31, 53-609 Wrocław, Poland

Resources, 2024, vol. 13, issue 2, 1-22

Abstract: Geoparks are territorial organizations, whose primary aim is to foster sustainable local development through the promotion of geoheritage, geotourism and geoeducation. Sites of significant interest from the perspective of geosciences (geosites), as well as the overall geodiversity of the territory, are the fundamental resources for geopark activities. The distribution of these resources in the geographical space of geoparks may, however, be uneven. We first review four cases of UNESCO Global Geoparks from different European countries (Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Portugal) where such a situation occurs, with consequences on tourism development. Then, we place particular focus on an aspiring geopark of the Land of Extinct Volcanoes in SW Poland, providing evidence of its geoheritage and geodiversity values. The aspiring geopark integrates a mountainous–upland terrain and a lowland part, the latter with much fewer sites of interest and, apparently, fewer opportunities to successfully develop geotourism. Recognizing the challenges emerging from the non-uniform distribution of resources and learning from established geoparks, we highlight various opportunities to encourage (geo)tourism in the less diverse sections of the geoparks. Implementation of the ABC (abiotic–biotic–cultural) concept could be particularly helpful, as could be various events organized in these areas.

Keywords: geopark management; sustainable tourism; geosites; geoheritage; Land of Extinct Volcanoes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/13/2/23/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/13/2/23/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jresou:v:13:y:2024:i:2:p:23-:d:1332197

Access Statistics for this article

Resources is currently edited by Ms. Donchian Ma

More articles in Resources from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().