Geosites for Geotourism, Geoheritage, and Geoconservation of the Khnefiss National Park, Southern Morocco

Saїd Mirari, Ali Aoulad-Sidi-Mhend and Abdelouahed Benmlih
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Saїd Mirari: Laboratory of Tourism Engineering, Heritage and Sustainable Development of the Territories, Faculty of Science in Rabat, Mohammed V University, Rabat P.O. BOX 1014, Morocco
Ali Aoulad-Sidi-Mhend: Laboratory of Natural Resources Geosciences, Department of Geology, Faculty of Science in Kenitra, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, P.O. BOX 14060, Morocco
Abdelouahed Benmlih: Laboratory of Tourism Engineering, Heritage and Sustainable Development of the Territories, Faculty of Science in Rabat, Mohammed V University, Rabat P.O. BOX 1014, Morocco

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 17, 1-15

Abstract: Khnefiss National Park has a very unique advantage of presenting three landscape morphologies of high quality: the coastal band, where the sea, dunes and cliffs mix; the lagoon zone, with its multiple interlacing water, algae and sand; and the vast desert, with its regs, hamadas, krebs, and dune extensions. It is unique and original at the world level for a protected area to retain in a single perimeter these three major ecosystems, which therefore gives this national park an exceptional quality. Khnefiss national park faces numerous natural, human-induced, institutional, organizational, and legal constraints. Hence, there is a need for a practical tool that would reconcile the imperatives of conservation, the demands of the local population, and tourism, and at the same time positively address the constraints that hamper the management of this geosite. Indeed, we will highlight a reflection that aims at clarifying the sense of this new trajectory in which Morocco is positioned in terms of interest development of geological heritage, the emergence of consumption of natural assets, and potentialities phenomenon according to regions. Therefore, all actions are based on values of citizenship, participative, responsibility, ethicality, and fairness. Indeed, the geosites have small to large scale characteristics (from ten meters to more than 10 km). The geosite inventory is based on the geoconservation strategy. Qualitative and quantitative assessments were carried out on the basis of geoheritage values of international significance. Thene, geoconservation efforts should be made in all these geosites for many reasons, such as valorization of academic research, preservation of natural resources, and promotion of geotourism in Khnefiss national park.

Keywords: geoheritage; geotourism; geosites; geoconservation and Khnefiss national park (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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