Lanzarote hosts the 1st Canary Islands Geoparks Conference this Friday. The meeting, organized by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Energy of the Government of the Canary Islands, has the collaboration of the UNESCO Global Geoparks of El Hierro and Lanzarote and the Chinijo Archipelago.
This event, which is part of the commemoration of the International Geodiversity Day, aims to contribute to highlighting the role of these territories recognized by this specialized United Nations body in its International Geoscience and Geoparks Programme, which makes them visible as spaces of great geological singularity.
In this sense, during its inauguration, the current general director of Natural Spaces and Biodiversity, Miguel Ángel Morcuende, stated that: "for the Archipelago, geology is a factor of vital importance, capable of conditioning the features of our territory and even the way we develop life on the islands".
Morcuende has given clear examples of this, which can be observed precisely on the island of Lanzarote, such as the landscape of La Geria. The general director of Natural Spaces and Biodiversity has stated that we find "fantastic examples of the adaptation capacity of our society to territories of great geological singularity in all our islands, but perhaps one of the most emblematic and recognizable, even easily outside the Archipelago, we find it here. It is perhaps an unbeatable example of the landscape resulting from ingenuity and the capacity for adaptation".
Specifically, during these conferences, we will learn in more detail what are those geological singularities of the Canary Islands. This will be through presentations such as the one given by Dr. José Mangas, Professor of Geology at the ULPGC, on The Geological Heritage of the Canary Islands and its Relationship with the Genetic Model of the Oceanic Volcanic Islands or the one developed by Dr. Carmen Romero Ruiz, professor at the ULL about The Geodiversity associated with the Historical Eruptions of the Canary Islands. Dr.
Currently, the Geoparks work for the preservation of the geological and geomorphological heritage, promoting the improvement of its knowledge, as well as its responsible management, hence they have become an important resource for the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals with which the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Energy is firmly committed.
The Conferences, which are held this Friday and Saturday in Lanzarote, promote their recognition and the dissemination of their essence as a space with special environmental interest to preserve them, while combining their use for economic activities such as geotourism.
Currently there are 195 UNESCO Global Geoparks spread over 48 countries, with only two of them located in the Canary Islands. The Geoparks of the Canary Islands work together and collaboratively to improve the level of knowledge that the Canarian society has about the local geological heritage, aspiring to achieve a society that is more aware and respectful of this part of the natural, fragile and irreplaceable heritage.
