Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
peace and prosperity. In the African context, geoheritage
could be used as a tool to reinforce African integration and to
promote a South-South dialogue through geotourism and
exchange of local products.
AWorld Bank report published in 2012 states that
The green color of the AGN logo relates to peace, which
is crucial for any sustainable development on the continent.
The AGN and the AAWG strongly believe that the eco-
nomic utilization of the African natural heritage could play
an important role in establishing sustainable peace in the
different regions of the continent.
The interconnected circles in the logo represent the net-
work activities which are strengthening African integration
which is so crucial for any sustainable development on the
continent.
African
countries are losing out on billions of dollars in potential trade
earnings every year because of high trade barriers with
neighbouring countries, and that it is easier for Africa to trade
with the rest of the world than with itself
“
. Trans-boundary
Geoparks like any other managed areas could play a key role to
highlight the opportunities for African countries to trade
goods, services and investments across borders, they could
help to remove barriers to trade in Africa and reinforce African
integration. African Geoparks will help to improve local
socio-economic sustainable development, especially in areas
with a high poverty level, and in areas suffering from the
negative effects of climate change.
Geoparks could be also used as an area where best
practices in mining governance, such as rehabilitation and
economic utilisation of abandoned mines and their geotou-
rism potential, environmental sustainability and social
responsibility are actively adopted and demonstrated.
”
2.5
AGN Activities
AGN is organizing, in collaboration with local, national and
international stakeholders, conferences, workshops, round-
tables, scienti
c sessions, meetings with local populations,
eld trips, multidisciplinary research groups, and geotrails,
and promotes them locally.
In 2010, AGN organized a roundtable on geoheritage and
Geoparks during the
fth conference of AAWG in Grand
Bassam (C
ô
te d
'
Ivoire), entitled
“
Women, Geosciences for
Peace
. As part of this dialogue a visit was organized to the
Fresco Escarpment Aspiring Geopark (Fig.
2
).
The network organised its
”
2.4
The AGN Logo
rst international conference on
Geoparks in Africa and Middle East under the title
“Aspiring
The main languages of the AGN are the most spoken lan-
guages of Africa: Arabic, English and French (Fig.
1
).
Portuguese will soon follow on to the list. In addition, all
local languages will be highlighted as a part of the cultural
diversity of the continent.
Geoparks
from 20th to
28th November 2011 in El Jadida (Morocco) (Errami et al.
2012
). The conference with its pre-conference short course
and its
in Africa and Arab World”
rst introduction to representatives
fromAfrica and Middle East countries to the understanding of
Geodiversity, Geoconservation andGeoparks (Fig.
3
a
eld trip was the
-
c). The
event was an opportunity to re
ect on the outstanding geo-
logical, geomorphological, ecological, cultural and traditional
diversity of Africa and the Middle East. Elements which
deserve to be preserved, economically utilised, and presented
to the public at large in a less academic and more widely
accessible manner, in order to make them catalyst for local
socio-economical sustainable development. The main targets
of the conference were capacity building of participants
interested in geoheritage, geoconservation, geotourism and
Geoparks, in order to allow them to promote the concept in
their respective countries. This contribution and the remainder
of this volume is an outcome of that
rst conference.
As a follow up of the conference, AGN organized in
collaboration with other stakeholders a number of work-
shops, meetings, roundtables,
eld trips, and presentations,
in numerous countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Camer-
oon, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Mada-
gascar). Presentations of AGN and its activities were given
in and outside Africa (Ghana, UK, Portugal, France, Turkey,
Italy and Iran).
Fig. 1
AGN logo
