On November 17th, the 38th UNESCO Congress officially approved International Geoscience and Geoparks Programme (IGGP) and the relevant guidelines, which brings all the existing global geoparks into this programme. Thereout, global geoparks will become the UNESCO Global Geoparks and are authorized to use the logo from UNESCO.

       It was reported that integration of global geoparks into UNESCO Global Geopark Programme has been working with years of effort by all UNESCO member states. At the 196th session of the UNESCO Executive Board, the working team of geoparks put forward the establishment of international geoscience and geoparks and got approved, which demonstrated the attention and determination given by UNESCO to the protection and sustainable development of geological heritages.

       Since 2003, the declaration and establishment of geopark has been implemented in China. In 2004, with the support from UNESCO, the 1st Geopark Congress was held in Beijing. Global Geopark Networks (GGN) was created during the conference by 17 members from European Geopark Networks (EGN) and 8 geoparks from China. By the end of October this year, the number of GGN members is up to 120 spreading all over the world and covering 33 countries and regions. Meanwhile, with the efforts for years, 186 national geoparks have been built covering 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) including Hongkong Special Administrative Region, in which there are 33 global geoparks that makes China become the country with the largest number of global geoparks.

       Nowadays, as a new way of resource utilization, geoparks in China are aimed to protect geological relics and ecological environment, promote local economy, solve employment, popularize science, upgrade infrastructure, promote international communication, inherit local culture and etc. The remarkable achievement and unique management model help China’s geoparks win the praise from UNESCO officials who acclaimed that China has played a pioneering role in the construction of geoparks.