UNESCO Global Geoparks and their underlying geographies in the contemporary world

• Grant number: 24/07987-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: October 05, 2024
• End date: January 04, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Rita de Cássia Ariza da Cruz
• Grantee: Isabella Maria Beil
• Supervisor: Artur Agostinho de Abreu e Sa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Portugal
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/04395-6 - UNESCO Global Geoparks and their underlying geographies in the contemporary world, BP.DR

Abstract

Until 20224, UNESCO recognized 213, Global Geoparks, of which more than 50% are in Europe, 40% in Asia, 6% in Latin America, and the remaining 4% are distributed between Africa, Anglo-Saxon America, and Oceania. This picture shows the existence of a much uneven geography regarding the distribution of these areas across the planet. In addition, in the one hand, 1/4 are located only in China, while, on the other hand, there is no Global Geopark recognized in the United States. In view of this situation, it is argued as a hypothesis here that behind the Geoparks' topology there is an imbricated relationship between the political, economic, and geopolitical strategies of the nation-states that shelter them, in addition to the simple protection and enhancement of the geological heritage that originates them. The concentration of these areas, therefore, would be related to the difference in the capacity to mobilize the necessary resources for such strategies. Based on this premise, we defined as the main goal of this internship research abroad to understand and analyze the factors that led to the concentration of UNESCO Global Geoparks in certain regions and countries of the globe, concomitantly with the low representation of these areas in other parts of the planet.