SGHN position on Geoparks

Courel Mountains Geopark

Just one month ago, SGHN made public its critical but constructive position on the Courel Geopark managers’ project with which “they are aiming for three million euros in aid under the tourism sustainability plan that the Secretary of State for Tourism promotes” (more…). Thus, SGHN requested from both Secretary of State for Tourism and the Directorate General for Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification that before granting any aid or subsidy to the Geopark, they require that the project submitted be subject to a complete, objective and independent environmental assessment procedure, that assesses the impact the actions incited might have on the integrity of the space and its environmental values, and that it adapts to the features marked by the Habitat Directive, the Law 42/2007 and Law 5/2019.

In social media, the SGHN’s position was misinterpreted as an opposition to the Courel Geopark, and even distorted on the grounds of imaginary and shady economic interests of the SGHN which was directly blamed of rejecting the project by the Secretary of State for Tourism. Nothing could be further from the truth as shown in the first paragraph of the answer (see PDF) that SGHN received from the Secretary of State for Tourism: “In relation to the candidacy of a tourism sustainability plan for the Courel Mountains, we inform you that the candidacy was not assessed because it was presented by the Association for the territorial promotion of the Courel Mountains, which is a non-profit and did not meet the requirement of being a Local Entity. Therefore, we did not examine the suitability or otherwise of the actions proposed in this report, we did not even evaluate it and it was classified as excluded”.

Ortegal Cape Geopark

Despite the operational difficulties presented by the fact that Geoparks do not currently have a legal framework in Spanish law for protected areas, SGHN does not oppose them as it is clearly shown by the fact that it has just supported the UNESCO Global Geopark candidacy of Cape Ortegal, promoted by the municipalities of Cariño, Cedeira, Cerdido, Moeche, Ortigueira, San Sadurniño and Valdoviño, highlighting its extraordinary geologic, scenic and environmental value as a driver of social, environmental and economically sustainable development of the area.

Text translated by Xoán Núñez Bazal (student of the Degree of Translation and Interpretation of the University of Vigo)