scholarly journals Geotourism—Examining Tools for Sustainable Development

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Marie-Luise Frey
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Geological Heritage ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Regional Tourism ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Heritage Science ◽  
Geosite Assessment ◽  
Selection Of

From the middle of the 1990s, geotourism was introduced through the first geotrails, their evolution, and the first geopark worldwide in Gerolstein/Vulkaneifel, Germany. The latter is one of the founding members of the European Geoparks Network, which was established in 2000 at the International Tourism Bourse (ITB) in Berlin. The main goal of the first geopark was to link geological heritage with tourism in a rural area that was trying to create new perspectives to inspire young people to stay in their home territory. Geotourism was initiated as part of sustainable tourist development and for future sustainable development at that time in the Gerolstein region. The first steps to implement the Gerolstein/Vulkaneifel Geopark, Germany, were taken in 1992. The core aspects included geological heritage, science transfer, and education as tools for developing geotourism in the broad sense and integrating local people and municipalities in the geopark activities of the rural region. Close collaboration with the local and regional tourism organizations highlighted the need to both define tools and demonstrate their success. Up to now, practice has shown that such success can be demonstrated by the infrastructure created, as well as adjacent measures and activities. A network of factors was determined to play a significant role in ensuring the successful sustainable development in a geopark across the field of geotourism. There are many activities and publications on geological heritage, geosite assessment, significance, and use, but there are fewer which reflect on the network of factors highlighted in this contribution which were first presented in 2002. In many publications and investigations, one factor in particular is emphasized, e.g., infrastructure development, such as panels or other items. Not all of the mentioned factors, however, are being addressed. As a result, a selection of good practice examples of UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGP) working on the network-oriented conceptual basis has been studied here, in line with the conceptual principle set forth about 25 years ago. The geopark examples in this study include Lesvos Island UGGp (Greece), Naturtejo UGGP (Portugal), Vulkaneifel UGGp (Germany), and Hong Kong UGGP (China), as well as the example of the Messel Pit World Heritage Site (WHS) (Germany). The latter was integrated to present an example which is not a geopark, showing that this concept can also be transferred to a WHS as a tool for sustainable development according the UN 2030 Agenda. The information on the development of the selected examples was obtained by visiting the geopark territory and from the geopark’s websites and published material as a combined methodology.

Bridging Development and Heritage: Expert Gaze, Local Discourses, and Visual Aesthetic Crisis at Hampi World Heritage Site

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-99
Author(s):  
Krupa Rajangam
Keyword(s):  
World Heritage ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Binary Opposition ◽  
Developmental Needs ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Local Discourses ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Cultural World

In this article, I explore the complex trajectory of two bridges that were proposed for construction across the River Tungabhadra in the early 1990s at locations that now fall within the boundary of Hampi, a UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site (WHS) in India. The proposed bridges were considered improper forms of infrastructure development in the visual context of a WHS, and the site was placed on the World Heritage in Danger List in the late 1990s. Popular media framed the controversy as a ‘classic clash’ between heritage and development where conservation goals and developmental needs opposed one another. Heritage experts, agencies, and activists read the crisis as one of ‘heritage or development’, normatively typecasting residents north of the river as ‘uneducated, ignorant locals’ wanting development at the cost of heritage. However, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and archival material covering nearly three decades, I demonstrate that residents wanted the bridges not as physical infrastructure towards some obscure development goals, but as the means to link their overlooked contributions to the founding of the Vijayanagara Empire, the capital region and its contemporary remaking as a WHS. In this instance, the binary opposition lay in the ‘expert gaze’, not in local discourses. It was experts, rather than ‘local people’, who saw conservation and development as inherently opposed to each other. I explicate how various views on what constitutes heritage and development intersect with each other and suggest that dissonance need not be the inevitable result but may be built into the gaze of expertise.

Great Zimbabwe World Heritage Site and sustainable development

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 226-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mavis Thokozile Macheka
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Local People ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Great Zimbabwe

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which Great Zimbabwe World Heritage Site has contributed to the sustainable development of the local people who live in its vicinity. What is critically important to underscore is the value of the site to society. Design/methodology/approach The relevant data were collected through questionnaires, personal interviews and site visits. Findings The paper reveals that cultural heritage has affected sustainable development of local communities living in its vicinity in social and cultural terms. There is promotion of Shona traditions through exhibitions and selling of curios by local people at community projects such as the Shona Village and the Great Zimbabwe Nemanwa Craft Centre. The two projects also generate revenue to the local communities. However it was established that a number of benefits from the site such as employment creation are temporary and unsustainable. The main challenge for effecting sustainable development to local communities is lack of community participation. Originality/value Most researchers are arguing that sustainability of cultural heritage is much more difficult compared to natural heritage but the findings reflect that cultural heritage through Great Zimbabwe World Heritage Site could be an essential engine and valuable resource for sustainable development.

scholarly journals The Authenticity of the Hidden Christians’ Villages in Nagasaki: Issues in Evaluation of Cultural Landscapes

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4387
Author(s):  
Tinka Delakorda Kawashima
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
Unesco World Heritage ◽  
The North ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Unesco World Heritage Site ◽  
Selection Of

Located in the north-western part of Kyushu, “Hidden Christians Sites in the Nagasaki Region” were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. This serial property consists of twelve sites, including the Christian villages that bear unique testimony to a cultural tradition nurtured under a long period of religious prohibition. Based on fieldwork research at Kirishitan villages in Hirado City, this paper shows how the global conservation strategies affect the local people and the sustainability of their cultural tradition. Comparing UNESCO and Japanese cultural landscape protection policies, I argue that the evaluation and selection of sites that begin at the local authorities and stakeholders’ level, is eventually reduced to tangible properties ready-made for tourist consumption. Here, the evaluation subsides under the UNESCO authenticity criteria and narrow governmental interests towards the cultural tradition it is supposed to protect. Therefore, for the protection of cultural landscapes and the living traditions, the decisions by cultural heritage protection authorities should be carefully made, based on scientific research of a cultural tradition, and in the interest of the tradition’s living successors.

scholarly journals The Evolution of Cultural Space in a World Heritage Site: Tourism Sustainable Development of Mount Wuyi, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 4025
Author(s):  
Weifeng Guo ◽  
Xiangmin Zheng ◽  
Fang Meng ◽  
Xiaonan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Evolutionary Trend ◽  
Cultural Space ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
World Heritage Sites ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Tourism Destinations

It is necessary to examine cultural space in tourism destinations, including World Heritage Sites, for the long-term sustainable development of these destinations. Existing studies on cultural space mainly concentrate on the conceptual and textural elements. However, factors influencing the evolution of cultural space still need to be explored for the sustainable development of tourism destinations. Taking Mount Wuyi, a World Heritage Site in China, as a case study, this research examines the evolutionary trend of its tea cultural space. Specifically, this study investigates indicators that influence cultural space and explores its evolutionary mechanism. The vector autoregressive model was used to analyze Mount Wuyi’s tea cultural space evolution from 1996 to 2017. The results reveal that culture had the highest overall development in the tea-space evolution; the market supply and demand were the strongest and most enduring exogenous forces. Moreover, the evolution of tea cultural space demonstrated a multi-stranded interactive evolution model. This study not only enriches the understanding of cultural space evolution in tourism destinations but also offers suggestions for the sustainable development and management of World Heritage Sites.

scholarly journals Perception of Sustainable Development in a Local World Heritage Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 8825
Author(s):  
Else Ragni Yttredal ◽  
Nathalie Homlong
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Local Level ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
Natural World ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cultural Organization ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Local Sustainability

Many frameworks, theories and tools exist to help operationalize and comprehend the concepts of sustainable development and sustainability. However, knowledge about how the concepts are perceived at a local level is scarce. The objective of this paper is therefore to gain such insight and, through this, to contribute to the understanding of local sustainability dynamics. A study of perceptions of sustainability was carried out in Geirangerfjord, a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Natural World Heritage Site in Western Norway. Using semi-structured interviews, stakeholders were asked about their perceptions of what sustainable development in Geirangerfjord entails. Several methods of analysis were used, namely, theme analysis, emergent pattern analysis and group comparisons. Furthermore, an approach we call the “What Is Not There (WINT) analysis” was developed to identify themes that are part of the sustainability discourse, but that were not mentioned by stakeholders. Among the results of the analysis are that social dimensions of sustainability dominated the perceptions of stakeholders. Stakeholder perceptions are furthermore context-dependent and are formed by sustainability issues that are close to people’s lives. The study also indicates that place of residence is a strong determinant of perceptions. In this way, the article adds to the existing literature on perceptions of sustainability.

Sustainable Development Goal Conflicts in Re-Mining of Tailings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Büttner ◽  
Jens Gutzmer ◽  
Jonathan Engelhardt ◽  
Mirko Martin
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Mining District ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Unesco World Heritage Site ◽  
Sand Lizard ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Average Lead

<p>The Davidschacht tailings storage facility (TSF), operated from 1944 to 1964, represents one of the largest tailings dams in the historic Freiberg mining district. It contains a volume of 760,000 m³ of sulfidic flotation tailings, residues of former base metal and silver ore beneficiation. The tailings material still contains elevated concentrations of valuable elements such as zinc (0.4 wt.% on average), lead (0.2 wt.%) and copper (0.05 wt.%) as well as indium (10 ppm). The material has thus become the focus of efforts to enable eventual re-mining and recovery of valuable metals. However, such efforts have to take into account a number of important interests of the public. The first of these is the fact that the unrehabilitated tailings pose a significant risk to the environment. Cd (44 ppm on average) and As (0.6 wt.%) concentrations are particularly high – and have a marked influence on the adjacent water bodies, such as the Freiberg Mulde river. Curbing this influence has been the subject of multiple remediation studies, but pressure to act has risen recently due to increasing regulatory demands on the quality of surface water (EU Water Framework Directive of 2000). This is, in principle, very much in favor of re-mining the tailings in an effort to remove also hazardous components. Counteracting this reclamation scenario is the fact that the TSF is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Erzgebirge / Krusne Hory” that was awarded in 2019. Another restriction pertains to the highly protected status of individual species (esp. sand lizard) settling on the TSF surface. This constellation obviously provides ample space for discussion as to how to deal with the tailings material contained in the Davidschacht TSF in future. Different sustainable development goals (SDG) have to be weighed against each other in order to find a holistic and sustainable. Airlift reactor-based bioleaching has been considered as an opportunity to maximize the sustainability of re-mining activities on the Davidschacht TSF. This innovative approach – and its circumstantial limitations – are documented in this contribution.</p>

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