Chapter 11 Geotourism and geotourist education in Poland

Abstract

In 1991, a new initiative appeared during the Digny Conference: the ‘International declaration of the rights of the memory of the Earth’. This provided suitable frames leading to international projects focused on the protection of geological heritage. As a result, in 2000 the European Geopark Network was established, followed by the Global Geopark Network (2004) (for details see, for example, Zouros, 2004, 2008). Both the protection and promotion of geosites has gained a new formula, much wider and comprehensive than just a simple sightseeing of geological/geomorphological sites, as it includes elements of history and cultural heritage as well as important economic and social issues in terms of revitaliation of local economy and communities (Zouros, 2008). Finally, in the 1990s geological sciences gained a new impetus towards more interdisciplinary issues when environmental geology emerged as a response to new challenges including sustainable development, natural hazards and general shift from reactive to proactive involvement of the applied nature of Earth sciences (see, for example, Bennett and Doyle, 1997).