Geopark development
2002 wurde der Geopark Harz . Braunschweiger Land . Ostfalen in Bornum, Stadt Königslutter am Elm, gegründet. Die Vorbereitungen dazu fingen im Teilgebiet Braunschweiger Land schon 1997 mit der Gründung des Freilicht- und Erlebnismuseums Ostfalen e.V. (FEMO) an. Zusammen mit dem Harzverband e.V. gründete FEMO einen der flächengrößten Geoparks der Welt. 2003 wurde der Geopark – zunächst mit dem Teilgebiet Braunschweiger Land- Mitglied im Nationalen Geopark Netzwerk. 2004/2005 folgte die Aufnahme in das Europäische Geopark Netzwerk (EGN) und das Globale Geopark Netzwerk (GGN) mit Unterstützung der UNESCO. Seitdem wurde der Geopark bereits viermal erfolgreich revalidiert, zuletzt im Herbst 2021. Überprüft wurden dabei Infrastruktur, Management, Programm, Budget und Schutzkonzept
The task of a geopark is also to promote and preserve knowledge about geological resources and to provide information about the sustainable use of raw materials. The history of mankind has always depended on the landscape and its resources. This is why archaeological, historical and cultural themes are naturally also part of every geopark: the first arable crops settled in our region because of the loess soils, the Romanesque buildings would not have been built in their splendour without the shell limestone and Rogenstein - and certainly not without copper, lead, zinc and silver in the Harz Mountains. Without the iron ore in Salzgitter and Peine, the steel industry would not have developed there and subsequently neither would Volkswagen. The links extend to the present day: without the disused mines, there would be no nuclear waste repositories in the Braunschweig region, some of which are highly problematic.
Geo-knowledge is essential here!
A total of 177 geoparks from 46 countries are currently recognised in the Global Geopark Network (GGN), 8 of which are in Germany. In many regions of Asia and South America, geoparks are state-funded as instruments of regional development. The first initiatives are also emerging in Africa. In November 2015, the GGN was recognised as an official UNESCO initiative, placing it alongside the World Heritage and Biosphere Reserves (MAB) in terms of importance. This means that the Braunschweig region has now been recognised by UNESCO almost in its entirety - alongside only 6 others of its kind in Germany
Unlike national parks, biosphere reserves (MAB) and nature parks, geoparks are not a separate category of protection. Although nature conservation, especially geotope protection, also plays an important role, the focus in geoparks is on people and their interaction with the landscape and natural resources. A geopark is an organisation by people for people. This means that a deserted, unique natural landscape could never become a geopark. On the other hand, industrial and urban areas - such as Braunschweig, Wolfsburg and Salzgitter - can very well be part of a geopark.
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Geoparks provide information about these relationships, both in the leisure and tourism sector and in cooperation with educational institutions. Precisely because geo-topics have disappeared from school curricula, several institutes at the region's universities have been closed and the state geological offices are increasingly restricting basic mapping work, geoparks have taken on an important social task. They operate from the bottom up, i.e. they are firmly anchored in the regions. This results in close cooperation with the municipalities, districts and cities, which currently provide the majority of geopark funding, while the federal states limit themselves to project funding (EU funding programmes) and federal funds have not been used at all to date.
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