UNESCO and Geological Survey of Pakistan organized consultation session to highlight the importance of Geo-science Geological Heritage.
UNESCO and Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) on Wednesday organized a consultation session here to highlight the importance of Geo-science Geological Heritage.
“Earth Sciences provide us with invaluable knowledge about our planet, its systems and its 4.6-billion-year history. This knowledge is essential for responding to present-day challenges of human society, such as preserving our Earth’s resources for future generations, mitigating the impact of global warming and risks of geological hazards”, said a statement.
“To highlight the geological heritage of Pakistan, Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) is looking forward to collaborating with UNESCO’s International Geoscience and Geoparks Programme (IGGP) to formulate strategies to promote geo-tourism in the country. Geo-tourism will promote important geological sites while conserving natural, cultural, and geological heritage”, it added.
Representatives of federal and provincial government organizations as well as academia participated in the event. Dr Sajjad Ahmad, Director General of GSP, highlighted the importance of preserving the unique geological features of international importance and geo-heritage of the country combined with tourism as Geo-tourism. “Geo-parks are believed to represent the paleo-geological as well as paleo-environmental record of a region and provide an insight to the appropriate use of natural resources”, he said.
Dr Youssef Filali-Meknassi, Director UNESCO Islamabad, in his remarks elaborated that Geo-parks and tourism together provided an important spectrum that could help promote the tourism industry in Pakistan. “It can help develop policies and plans to conserve the unique geological features of international importance and geological heritage of the country”, he said.
Hassan Mahmood Yousafzai, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division), assured that the Ministry would extend its full support to UNESCO’s International Geo-science and Geo-parks Programme in Pakistan. “The development of geo-parks will bring improvement in the socioeconomic setor of the country. It will boost geo-tourism and will provide friendly environment to the researchers, community and tourists”, he said.
Capt. (Retd) Shehbaz Tahir Nadeem, Joint Secretary Development, Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division), in his concluding remarks appreciated the GSP for its role and interest in establishing the IGGP Programme in Pakistan.
Director General GSP Dr Sajjad Ahmad in his concluding remarks said that two subcommittees, comprising relevant Government Organizations and researchers would be announced very soon, followed by a National Committee on IGGP to launch and implement the programme in Pakistan.
Substantive deliberations will lead in formulation of a roadmap for the geo-science research and geo-parks programme in Pakistan. There was consensus on the fact that there is a lot of potential in the country to promote its geological heritage such as Salt Range, Margalla Hills National Park, Triple junction of three mightiest mountain ranges at Juglot, Khunjrab National Park, Chundargup mud volcanoes in Hingol National Park and Nagarparkar area Sindh.
Originally published at APP