Geodiversity – culture relationships within the concept of geosystem services

Relationships between geodiversity and culture are very close and frequent and they are reflected in numerous and different areas, situations, or levels. This contribution aims to analyse the links geodiversity – culture within the concept of geosystem services (or abiotic ecosystem services). Based on the definitions of culture and analysis of geosystem services schemes (Gray 2013, Gordon 2018), it was possible to catch some reflections of geodiversity-culture relationships not only within cultural and knowledge services, but also within supporting and provisioning services. Moreover, the geodiversity – culture connections are reflected in every day’s life and language, thus a quick insight into these topics is also presented.

While some aspects of geodiversity – culture relationships have been given more attention and been investigated more thoroughly (e.g. building stone and architecture, or geotourism and geoeducation), other aspects remain unexplored (e.g. geodiversity – culture links in geo-toponyms, heraldry, myths, language, sense of place). Focused attention and further research is also needed in the case of societal development, citizen science projects and participative research (Kubalíková and Coratza 2023). Generally, it can be said that when studying geodiversity – culture links, the multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary approaches are necessary.

Geosystem services approach can represent a step towards integrated management, conservation and promotion which is always more effective than conserving, managing or promoting particular landscape (both natural and cultural) elements in an isolated way. Anchoring the geodiversity – culture relationships within the concept of geosystem services may provide a framework for future studies and may contribute to the better understanding of protection and sustainable use not only of geoheritage, but entire geodiversity and justify conservation measures applied not only on the site level (that means on particular geosites, geomorphosites or geocultural sites), but also on the geodiversity as a whole.

 

Keywords: geosystem services, local identity, building stone, language, heritage, geodiversity, culture

 

References:

Gordon JE (2018) Geoheritage, geotourism and the cultural landscape: enhancing the visitor experience and promoting geoconservation. Geosciences, 8, 136, https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences8040136

Gray M (2013) Geodiversity: Valuing and Conserving Abiotic Nature. 2^nd edn. Wiley Blackwell

Kubalíková L, Coratza P (2023) Reflections of geodiversity – culture relationships within the concept of abiotic ecosystem services. In Kubalíková L et al. eds. Visages of Geodiversity and Geoheritage. Geological Society, London, Special Publications 530, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP530-2022-155