Geopark Experts To Meet In Langkawi Next Week
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 (Bernama) -- Geoscience experts will converge on Langkawi, Kedah, for three days from Tuesday to discuss and exchange ideas on the sustainable use and management of geoparks.
The First Regional Conference on Asia-Pacific Geoparks and Business Dialogues, among others, hopes to encourage Asia-Pacific countries to develop their own national geoparks and establish a regional network of such parks.
The conference is being jointly organised by the Langkawi Development Authority, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), UNESCO, Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry, Tourism Ministry, Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Department and the Mineral and Geoscience Department.
In a statement Thursday, the organising committee said the conference, themed "Networking between National Geoparks", would also discuss the progress of geoheritage conservation in the Asia-Pacific region.
Langkawi is the world's 52nd and Southeast Asia's first geopark following its listing in the Unesco Global Network of Geoparks on June 1 2007. The Langkawi Geopark comprises all of the 99 islands in the Langkawi archipelago.
Several geoscience experts, including Prof Datuk Dr Ibrahim Komoo from UKM, Unesco's Dr Margaret Patzak and China's Prof Dr Zhao Xun, will be presenting their papers.
Other presenters are from Australia, China, Iran, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Russia, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Field trips to three geoforest parks in Langkawi, namely the Machinchang Cambrian Geoforest Park, Kilim Karst Geoforest Park and Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest Park, are also being organised for conference participants.
A forum on the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Geopark Network is expected to take place on the final day of the conference.
-- BERNAMA
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