The 8th UNESCO Global Geopark Conference was held in Adamello Brenta UNESCO Global Geopark of Trentino Province in Italy from September 10th to September 14th 2018. The theme of this conference is geopark and sustainable development. The conference set up five sub-venues with the themes of sustainable tourism and regional sustainable development in geoparks, science and research, public awareness and communication, climate change and geological disasters, and regional and international cooperation.
Invited by Mr. Matteo Bonababe, the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Conference, the Wudalianchi UNESCO Global Geopark delegation headed by Chen Xiaojie, the Deputy Mayor of Heihe Municipal People’s Government, attended the conference.
The conference was grandly opened on the morning of September 11th, local time at the Modena di Campiglio Conference Center in Italy. At the meeting, Chen Xiaojie, the Deputy Mayor of Heihe Municipal People's Government, gave a speech of "The Sustainable Development of Wudalianchi UNESCO Global Geopark’s Tourism and the Value of its Mineral Spring Environment”, introduced the successful cases of Wudalianchi to the global geoparks so as to learn from each other. Chen Xiaojie, the Deputy Mayor of the People's Government of Heihe City, and Hou Ming, the Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Management Committee of Wudalianchi Scenic Area, had exchanged ideas respectively with Mr. Patrick Mckeever, the Director of UNESCO's Earth Science and Geoparks Program, the Professor Nickolaos Zouros, the Chairman of the Executive Board of UNESCO's Global Geopark Network, and Professor Ibrahim Komoo, the UNESCO Global Geopark Assessment Expert.
During the conference, Wudalianchi UNESCO Global Geopark took full advantage of the international platform of the Conference to introduce and promote itself. It distributed the brochures, hand-painted maps, logos, mascots, science popularization books and other related publicity materials at the venue, communicated with other geoparks, discussed the cooperation intention and signed close cooperation agreements. Thematic exhibition was held in the poster area and took various forms to present the special environment of Wudalianchi UNESCO Global Geopark and give professional introduction. It also vigorously promoted the publicity, and actively contributed to the Organizing Committee of the Conference to participate in the online video competition of the global geoparks. The videos were arranged by the Committee to be played cyclically in the area.
Wudalianchi UNESCO Global Geopark’s participation in the conference not only further strengthened its international fame and influence, but also enhanced the reputation and established a solid base for the future international development.
