The Estrela UNESCO Global Geopark Science and Education Network for Sustainable Development

The Network of Science and Education for Sustainable Development of the Estrela UNESCO Global Geopark, implemented in 2019, aims at supporting and fostering applied research in the Estrela Geopark’s territory, based on an articulated set of interdisciplinary working Groups with close links to the Higher Education Institutions and the national scientific and technological system, highlighting the entities that carry out research in mountain regions. Besides, it will also serve as a catalyst for the new generation of scientists who will benefit from the more than 2,200 km² of this territory as a living laboratory.

The Network presents a dynamic structure, through a set of nuclei (working groups), promoting science and education, and developing scientific research in complementary areas. Each Nucleus is coordinated by a Responsible Researcher (RR) and includes a team appointed by him. The Nuclei develop their R & D activity in articulation with public and private research units and technology centres, whose activity is developed in lines and projects closely related to the Estrela Geopark. Its priority activities will be defined within the framework of the Estrela Geopark’s Strategic Plan for Science, as well as within the premises of UNESCO, with priority in the following areas: Geology and Geomorphology, Landscape, Culture and Heritage, Climate and Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecology, Environment and Natural Resources, Territory Planning and Risks, Tourism, Leisure and Sustainable Development.

Thus, this network aim at creating activities that promote science, education and scientific knowledge, in a collaborative way, based on the establishment of medium and long-term strategic partnerships between different actors of the territory and institutions that carry out research in the several themes, having as main objectives the cooperation in the identification of challenges, joint planning of activities, the definition of projects, the development of studies on the territory of the Estrela, the sharing of resources and infrastructures and the mobility and / or exchange of resources, with the aim of transferring, sharing and disseminating knowledge.

This Network promotes 5 working groups of science and education in: Climate Change; Water Resources; Biodiversity and Ecology; Tourism and Sustainability; Geodiversity and Geoconservation.

This holistic strategy aims at putting scientific knowledge at the service of the communities, through an effective citizen science, implementing various activities with the direct involvement of the communities and its promotion.