The status and future of essential geodiversity variables

Rapid environmental change, natural resource overconsumption and increasing concerns about ecological sustainability have led to the development of 'Essential Variables' (EVs). EVs are harmonized data products to inform policy and to enable effective management of natural resources by monitoring global changes. Recent years have seen the instigation of new EVs beyond those established for climate, oceans and biodiversity (ECVs, EOVs and EBVs), including Essential Geodiversity Variables (EGVs). EGVs aim to consistently quantify and monitor heterogeneity of Earth-surface and subsurface abiotic features, including geology, geomorphology, hydrology and pedology. Here we assess the status and future development of EGVs to better incorporate geodiversity into policy and sustainable management of natural resources. Getting EGVs operational requires better consensus on defining geodiversity, investments into a governance structure and open platform for curating the development of EGVs, advances in harmonizing in situ measurements and linking heterogeneous databases, and development of open and accessible computational workflows for global digital mapping using machine-learning techniques. Cross-disciplinary collaboration and partnerships with governmental and private organizations are needed to ensure the successful development and uptake of EGVs across science and policy. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Geodiversity for science and society'.

Geoconservation at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

This work describes the achievements made towards geoconservation within the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) from the 1990s onwards. The key milestones in the recognition of geoconservation within the IUCN are presented. Initially, the IUCN's geoconservation efforts were focused on refining the criteria for World Heritage (WH) designation. Subsequently, the actions focused on spreading the geoconservation framework within the IUCN World Conservation Congresses (WCCs), the establishment of an expert group on geoconservation within the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (IUCN-WCPA) and the publication of guidelines for geoconservation. We describe how the inclusion within the IUCN membership of three organizations-two of them Spanish: The Geological Society of Spain (SGE) and the Society for the Defence of Geological and Mining Heritage (SEDPGYM); and one international, ProGEO-has been a key factor. These organizations have achieved the adoption of resolutions in which geoconservation, its vision, its principles and its definitions have been taken into account in the IUCN WCC (2008-2020 period), and have promoted the geoconservation conceptual framework among nature conservationists. We also analyse the progress made and offer a series of recommendations to improve geoconservation in the future adopting a more integrated approach to nature conservation within the IUCN. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Geodiversity for science and society'.

A Holistic Approach Including Biological and Geological Criteria for Integrative Management in Protected Areas

Biodiversity hotspots and geosites are indivisible parts of natural heritage. Therefore, an adequate spatial delimitation and understanding of both and their linkages are necessary in order to be able to establish conservation policies. Normally, biodiversity hotspots are a typical target for those policies but, generally, geosites are not taken into account. Thus, this paper aims to fill this gap by providing an easily replicable method for the identification and integration of the geosites and the biodiversity hotspots in a Network for Integrative Nature Conservation that highlights their linkages. The method here presented has been applied to Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve situated in southeastern of the Bay of Biscay. The obtained results indicate that some geosites that are not directly related with biodiversity hotspots remain unprotected. Thus, from the study carried out, it can be stated that we conserving just the biodiversity hotspots is not enough to conserve the whole natural heritage of a protected area, as some plots interesting due to their relevant geoheritage remain unprotected. Therefore, it is necessary to fully integrate geosites into the planning documents of protected areas as a part of an ecosystem approach. The ecosystem approach recognizes the integrity of abiotic and biotic elements in nature conservation policies. Moreover, the proposed framework and the innovative methodology can be used as an easy input to identify priority areas for conservation, to improve the protected areas conservation planning, and to demonstrate the linkages between biodiversity hotspots and geosites.