Online mode- September 27-28, 2021

 UNESCO Cairo and UNESCO Montevideo embarked on an inter-regional project crossing the continents with the First Edition of the Creative Economy Workshop to bring together Latin America and the Caribbean countries, West Africa and Arab countries to work together on setting the path for UNESCO Global Geoparks Management Schemes in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Arab States (GEO-SCHEMAS).

The first session of the workshop hosted opening speeches from Mr. Guzmán Palacios Fernandez, Cultural and Scientific Affairs, Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation – AECID; Mr. Kristof Vandenberghe, Chief of Earth Sciences and Geo-hazards Risk Reduction Section, Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences, UNESCO Global Geoparks Secretariat; Mr. Bisher Imam, Officer in Charge, UNESCO Regional Bureau for Sciences in the Arab States in Cairo and Ms. Lidia Brito, Director, UNESCO Regional Bureau for Sciences in Latin America and the Caribbean – Montevideo.  The workshop organized online on 27 and 28 of September 2021 brought together 135 participants from 36 countries of 5 regions around the world. Panelists from all over the world brought an inspirational atmosphere and their contributions were an eye opener on the benefits and positive externalities of the conservation of geological heritage in the countries with the adoption of the UNESCO Global Geopark concept.

UNESCO Global Geoparks from Latin America, Africa and Arab region came on board to share their experience and transfer their knowledge on good practices in geo-tourism, geo-education, geo-conservation while emphasizing the importance of geo-diversity. We have a wide array of upcoming GEOSCHEMAS project activities which will be shared with you soon.