Celebrating International Geodiversity Day 2024 – a guest blog by Professor David Drewry

Introduction from Anna Nsubuga, UK Ambassador to UNESCO

Sunday 6 October is Worldwide Geodiversity Day. Worldwide Geodiversity Day is a worldwide celebration, bringing folks collectively on every year, to advertise the numerous elements of geodiversity. Geodiversity is throughout you. It’s all the components of nature that aren’t alive; together with every little thing from minerals and fossils, to soils and spectacular landscapes.

It’s my pleasure as UK Ambassador to UNESCO to have invited Professor David Drewry, member of UK Nationwide Fee for UNESCO’s Board of Administrators, to share his reflections on this special occasion, which you’ll be able to learn beneath.

Please additionally get pleasure from a number of pictures of the UK’s geoparks all through this weblog, with due to the UK Nationwide Fee for UNESCO.

Worldwide Geodiversity Day – by Professor David Drewry

I’m standing on the “white” chalk headland above Dover throughout a weekend trip. It’s an iconic location in south-east England forming a panorama of excellent pure magnificence. Inland, The Weald is an space of historical settlement the place ores have been mined by early settlers for iron manufacturing relationship again over 2,750 years.

Additional to the west, the island of Portland has yielded fine-grained limestone, an impressive building materials, used for a lot of well-known buildings in London akin to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Additional West once more is the UNESCO World Heritage Web site of the Jurassic Coast, redolent of the stays of dinosaurs, a long-forgotten world, and an attraction for guests of all ages to find out about our previous.

These spots and actions attest to the contributions that geology and bodily geography make to our sense of place and wellbeing, to society, heritage and our economic system. Tales similar to this may be associated in each nation on the planet and in so doing have a good time the geodiversity of our residence, Planet Earth.

Over current years there was a rising realisation that a lot of our lives relies upon indirectly on geology. The cup we drink out of has been formed from clay, the bricks and mortar which can be used to assemble billions of houses and business premises are manufactured from earth supplies, lime, clay, sand, and water – one other earth materials! Metal, aluminium and titanium that construct autos, railways, plane, bridges and all method of shopper items have their origins in ores extracted from the bottom.

As I write this weblog on my iPhone it’s astonishing to recall that over 75% of the weather (non-radioactive) which can be within the Periodic Desk and that go into making this gadget are extracted from the Earth’s crust. At the moment, in our digital age, and as we embrace the swap from hydrocarbons to renewable types of vitality era, we rely critically upon these supplies which can be dug out or mined. Batteries and digital parts require uncommon earths and metals akin to lithium, palladium, germanium, even gold and silver, and plenty of extra.

This demand is, nonetheless, of accelerating concern. Extraction in some counties is explorative, regularly unlawful, circumstances for employees are poor and dangerous and appreciable harm is inflicted on the panorama usually destroying huge areas of pure vegetation or agricultural land. In an identical method to our biosphere we have to respect and defend our bodily earth and the way we use it; it’s in any case a finite useful resource for all humankind in addition to the important underpinning for organic life by erosion, weathering and soil manufacturing for agriculture.

This aim might be achieved, as it’s within the UK, by pursuing panorama conservation, searching for designation as UNESCO World Heritage Websites (eg. Large’s Causeway in Northern Eire) and UNESCO Geoparks (of which the UK now has 9) in addition to websites of particular scientific curiosity (SSSIs). By the way, UK scientists and environmentalists, on the forefront of geoheritage and geoconservation, performed a number one position in selling and attaining the UNESCO Geodiversity Day.

However let me return to the great thing about our world’s landscapes which encourage, uplift the soul and problem our imaginations. The vary and sights are actually awe-inspiring – huge mountain ranges just like the Himalaya, intricate coasts, islands chains, chilly glaciers and bleak deserts – all have stimulated artists, writers, poets, and composers capturing the essence of nature and bringing solace and appreciation to thousands and thousands who’ve admired and loved their works.

Yearly, Geodiversity Day celebrates the myriad dimensions offered by our fantastic world. Completely happy Worldwide Geodiversity Day to all!

You could find out extra about Worldwide Geodiversity Day.

Professor David Drewry is a world main professional on the atmosphere and examine of the polar area, his expertise contains Director of each the British Antarctic Survey and the Scott Polar Analysis Institute at Cambridge College. Professor Drewry is a member of the UK Nationwide Fee for UNESCO’s Board of Administrators, specialising in Pure Sciences and European Analysis Coverage.