Recent development of global geoparks and present status of geological heritage protection in Southeast Asia

Since the 1990s, a number of geoscientists have been devoted to the global geopark heritage protection in conservation of geoheritage. Under the leadership of the UNESCO Earth Science Division, two feasibility studies of global geopark establishment, which lasted four years, were completed and adopted by the UNESCO General Assembly in 1997 and 2000 respectively, thus promoting the establishment of geoparks. In 1996, Several European geoscientists discussed the founding of a European geoparks network in the 30th IGC Beijing, which was supported by the EEU. Thus the network and the Chinese geoparks supported by the Chinese government were formally established in 2000. The first batch of 25 global geoparks were accepted and approved in 2004 by the UNESCO Headquarters. Now there are 52 global geoparks the world over. Since then, rich experience has been acquired in the construction of geoparks. East and Southeast Asian countries represented by China and Malaysia not only have abundant geological heritage resources but also set an example for the promotion of the construction of geoparks. However, the development of this work is rather unbalanced in different countries.