A COP 27 side event was organized on November 15, 2022 at UNESCO Pavilion in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt to bring the importance of the Art of conservation of geological heritage, geodiversity and biodiversity in the context of UNESCO Global Geoparks and The Man and Biosphere Programme. It aimed at presenting UNESCO Global Geoparks and Biosphere Reserves as inspirational gems for humanity, emphasizing on the role of creative economy and its best practices for income generation and improving the social welfare of society, and to bring the private sector dimension and the production of artistic expressions and the value chain involving local communities of women and youth and improving local livelihoods.

UNESCO has long placed people at the heart of ecological and geological conservation initiatives whereby local communities can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives instilling nature at the heart of the socio-economic dynamics found within and beyond UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGps) and UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BRs). These sites bring together a panoply of functions to the world and society. Their conservation schemes entail protecting biodiversity and geodiversity, preserving tangible and intangible heritage through nature-based tourism and creative economy, seeding the sense of pride and the feeling of belonging to local communities, and contributing to social welfare. Apart from constituting platforms for capacity development and technology transfer, both sites represent hubs of knowledge in all its forms and typologies and are sources of income generation in the context of creative economy whereby they foster local, national and regional cooperation initiatives. BRs and UGGps also proved to be learning sites for the implementation of the SDG 2030, CCA and SES resilience approaches to Natural Hazards.

The event brought on the panel discussion Ms. Nuria Sanz, Regional Director, UNESCO Regional Bureau for Sciences in the Arab States in Cairo, Mr. Driss Achbal, President, Geopark M’Goun Association from Morocco, Mr. Amer Refoue, Dana Biosphere Reserve from Jordan; Mr. Ali Youssef, Abu Ghosoun Village from Egypt and Ms. Ines Klemm, Expert Natural Heritage Conservation & Management from Switzerland.  It emphasized the important roles of both BRs and UGGps in creating strong and sustained socio-economic dynamics whereby natural and social capitals are combined to preserve cultural diversity through the various facets of creative economy. It shed the light on the importance of the private sector in the preservation of local traditional crafts and in the translation of local arts and artisanal products, stories, recipes to tangible products generating income to local and national markets economy. The event wass geared towards identifying creative economy best practices for income generation and improving the social welfare of society; and share experience of the private sector in the production of artistic expressions and the value chain involving local communities (women and youth) and improving local livelihoods.