GSSA Geoparks Update
Marcia van Aswegen 16 June 2025
I was invited to the offices of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) in Pretoria at the end of 2024. Mr Vongani Maringa has been passionately motivating for the Geoparks Programme within South Africa for more than a decade. The Blyde River Biosphere already has an established management authority (under the UNESCO Man and Bioshere Programme). It is proposed that this area be progressed toward a formal Global Geopark.
Khodani Matshusa and Llewellyn Leonard (Researchers at the University of South Africa, under the Department of Environmental Sciences focusing on Geoheritage, Geoparks, and Geotourism research and development) published a comprehensive review of global governance models that could be applied in South Africa. The review article is entitled “Proposed Governance Model for Geotourism and Geoheritage in South Africa and the Implications for Africa” and was published online in January 2023…