[M-IS14] [JJ] Geopark

[MIS14-P03] A revision of the evaluation method of geosites for geoparks management and promotion

*Dorota Anna Suzuki¹, Hideo Takagi² (1.Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 2.Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Education and Integrated Arts and Sciences, Waseda University)

Keywords:geosite, geopark, evaluation, geotourism

Geosites are sites of scientific interest based on geology or geomorphology that can serve various purposes, such as future research, conservation, education, tourism or sustainable development of a certain area. During the last two decades many researchers have tried to devise a uniform method to measure specific values of geosites in different ways. This work presents the revision of the evaluation scheme, which was introduced during the 4^th Asian Pacific Geopark Network (APGN) Symposium in San’in Global Geopark in 2015. Since that time, we have made some changes to the scoring criteria and drawn new conclusions. The revised model provides more consistent criteria for evaluating sites of various types (e.g. geological, ecological, cultural), and thus could help in planning and management of geotourism development within geoparks. The results are visualized using radar charts, which are designed in a way that is very helpful for understanding the types of values that deserve to be conserved and those that can help sustainable use of a site.