On Dec., 7, China Annual Meeting on UGGp 2022 opened in Xiangxi Prefecture, Hunan Province. This annual meeting is guided by the Department of Natural Reserves, State Forestry and Grassland Administration, the Hunan Provincial Forestry Bureau, and the People’s Government of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture. The Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, the National Geopark Network Center, the Global Geopark Network Office, and Xiangxi UGGp organized jointly. The annual meeting was held online and offline for the first time.

Staff members of Funiushan UGGp participated in the online meeting. The meeting was attended by representatives from forestry and grassland departments of relevant provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government) and 41 global geoparks and 7 candidate sites. The geopark family gathered online to talk about stories in geopark, share experience and seek for sustainable development of global geoparks. Yuan Xiaohong, second-level counsel of the Department of Protected Areas Management of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, and Wang Min, Deputy Director of the Geoheritage Research Office of Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences on behalf of Ma Yan, Vice president of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, and Jin Xiaochi, Vice President of the Executive Board of the global Geopark Network, delivered speeches online. Zhang Jianping, member of the Executive Board of GGN and Professor of China University of Geosciences, and Zhang Zhiguang, senior engineer of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences and experts of UGGp, delivered keynote reports online. Leaders of Shilin UGGp and Danxiashan UGGp share their management and construction experience, so as to promote exchanges and cooperation between the geoparks and promote the sustainable development of geoparks and geotourism in China.

In this annual meeting, Funiushan Global Geoparks studied the analysis of the key points of UGGp validation and revalidation by global geoparks experts, learned about the application and revalidation situation of global geoparks in recent years, and got experience of advanced management, protection, construction, publicity and scientific research shared by various parks. This has pointed out the direction for the following preparatory work and the sustainable development of the park.

At the closing ceremony, Ma Yan, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, announced that Yimengshan Global Geopark will be the organizer of China Annual Meeting on UGGp 2023. Long Xiaohua, governor of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, handed over the conference flag to relevant responsible person of Yimengshan Global Geopark.