英文摘要 |
"Geopark is an important approach in recent year to promote geoconservation around the world. It is also classified as a component of natural heritage in the''Cultural Heritage Preservation Act''in Taiwan. The concept of geopark is based on conserving geoheritage of significance, and is managed by the holistic concept of protection, education, and sustainable development. Geoconservation, as the core of activity within a geopark, focuses on the conservation, application, and promotion of geodiversity values. Therefore, being aware of the concept of geodiversity will be beneficial for promoting geopark policy. Geodiversity is analogous to biodiversity. It is defined by Gray (2004) as''the natural range of geological (rocks, minerals, fossils), geomorphology (landforms, topography, physical processes), soil and hydrological features''. The methods to classify and assess it have progressively developed over the past few years. Those started from relatively simple assessments based on scientific significance to combined assessments with cultural and aesthetic values. Additionally, some qualitative and quantitative ways have been developed. Recently, assessment methods also incorporate the concept of ecosystem services. Thus, the practices of geoconservation have been applied to the management of protected areas, promotion of geoparks, heritage preservation, sustainable development, and geotourism. The long-term project of''landscape conservation''in Taiwan has a different meaning with''geoconservation'', the latter being widely applied internationally. Landscape conservation concerns the landscape shaped by both the natural environment and human activities. Whereas, from the perspective of geoconservation, conserving geoheritage is core, with extending the focus to ecosystem and cultural conservation. In this study, I argue that whether applying the ideas of landscape conservation or geoconservation, the assessment and planning of geoparks need to be based on the geodiversity approach. Geodiversity could better fit the criteria of UNESCO global geoparks, and Taiwanese geoparks could be better promoted to the rest of the world." |