Global Geographical Heritage, Geoparks and Geotourism

Georgia is in the middle of the area (70, 000 km²) almost 25 in the Europe. The formation of the country's territory counts for one billion years. All forms of relief are presented in Georgia, which is known worldwide. There are hundreds of natural monuments on the territory of Georgia that make a special impression on the visitors. It is also important that such monuments of nature are concentrated on a small area that increases their tourism and recreational purpose. With the diversity of nature, Georgia can be presented in the world geographical parks (geoparks) networks, and will further increase its tourist attraction. Georgia has not been presented in the world geographical parks (geoparks) networks, what is an interesting as Caucasus Office of Nature Protection World Fund, as state and local tourist organizations. The relevant nomination can be submitted by Elizbarashvili (2018): 1. Javakheti—volcanoes and Vardzia canyon is located in southern Georgia (Akhalkalaki administrative district). It is made of lavish streams flowing from the slopes of the Mordian direction. There are several volcanic cones on this ridge that create effective peaks. The western boundary of the Plateau passes through the Vardzia canyon (the administrative district of Aspinza), with an average depth of 500 m, and a length of 7 km. It is in the middle of the medieval city of Vardzia (13-storey cave building) and monastery complex, which is nominated for a UNESCO cultural heritage monument. Some volcanic lakes are presented under geopark, which present Ramsar Convention site and are in composition of protected territories of Javakheti. 2. Imereti—The dinosaur footprint and the Imereti Cave Complex (including the Kutaisi city and Tskaltubo administrative districts) in central Georgia—There are over 200 unique footprints of dinosaurs, which are found in 1933 on the mercury limestone. The footprint is located at 500 m above the sea level, with subtropical humid conditions and the western exposition winds (slopes from the Black Sea). Nearby, there are several karst caves, geological, paleontological, zoological, and botanical monuments. The Tskaltubo Cave is one of the most remarkable places in Europe. 3. Khevi—Glacier (Kazbegi), Gudauri volcanic plateau and Dariali Gorge—The glacier is located on the central Caucasus in northern Georgia (Stepantsminda administrative district). Its height is 5033 m. The local population call it “Khevi bride". The glacier is a “dormant” volcano that lasted 6,000 years ago. Here the lavish deer runs in three—south, east, and north-east. One of the mythological and one historical (Gergeti Trinity) monument is the monument on the edge of the glacier. Mythology is connected to Amiran (the analog of Prometheus) attached to the Caucasus. According to the tradition, God Amiran right here climbed the cliff, and “on top of the snow-ice gear and the glacier of the glacier". At the foot of the glacier, Dariali canyonic gorge is represented in the rocks formed in the form of volcanoes developed over 300–400 million years ago, central Caucasus. Its length is 11 km, and the relative height is more than a thousand meters. There is also a volcanic plate of Gudauri, whose vertical slopes are formed by lava cooling (suspension).

In the twenty-first century, humans paid special attention to applying criteria for the assessment of geodiversity and the introduction of the country’s geoheritage to conserve this valuable abiotic natural heritage and to use it in a sustainable way, especially via new emergence of the geotourism industry. In Iran, scientific discussion of geotourism was not introduced in academic textbooks until the registration of the Qeshm Island (for the first time) in the Global Geopark Network (GGN) in 2006. However, in spite of being delisted in 2012, it made it to be listed again in GGN in 2017. Meanwhile, the academics, including students, have made valuable unorganized national efforts to identify more territories as potential national/global geoparks by choosing to work on the topic as a master’s or Ph.D. thesis. These efforts accompanying the published textbooks have played a significant role in eliminating the merely aesthetics point of view toward geotourism and geopark own-made philosophy which was first introduced mistakenly by the Geological Survey & Mineral Explorations of Iran. Today, the number of those interested in the field is growing and thanks to the academic books published, the awareness of the issue has been increased. Fortunately, this is the first successful academic project related to a region’s Geopark feasibility study in Iran completed in 2014, which had been completed partly by the financial support of Geological Survey & Mineral Explorations of Iran and by the cooperation of some geo-colleagues from this organization as a teamwork with this university project. The study area is located around the UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site, namely Takht-e Soleyman in the northwest of Iran that is rich in terms of geodiversity, biodiversity, and historical–cultural diversity. However, unfortunately, the study area is in a poor condition economically. Accordingly, the establishment of a geopark in the region can increase job creation, prevent immigration of the villagers to the cities, and flourish the economic conditions of the region. In this study, two assessment methods have been used for evaluating selected geodiversities in the field, where each of them includes some parameters and sub-parameters. Based on calculated scores for each geological/geomorphological site and making use of interpolation methods in a GIS environment, the geopark territory, and the best preliminary geotrail in the study region were selected. The results of the study show that both methodologies prove high conservation importance of the geoheritage and other cultural–environmental (geographical) heritage perspective for this territory which represents the importance of sustainable application of resources by registering a geopark as a managerial strategy in this area. Consequently, related maps for future studies and filed works have been produced. According to the geopark and geotrail preliminary maps, the area has the potential for more studies, further community engagement (about 44 villages) studies, and consequently governmental and the private sectors’ investments and preparing sustainable tourism infrastructures to be listed as a national geopark and later as a global geopark.

What geoheritage means for contemporary society? Socioeconomic developments pushed us in a new era, defined postmodern. Technological development requires a knowledge that goes hand in hand with its speed. The break between progress, society, environment, could be causing unpredictable effects on the planet: this is the Anthropocene paradigm. Knowledge, provided by science, seems to be the only weapon that leads us, troughs the shared awareness, toward changes. New and unconventional ways of communicating sciences, particularly earth sciences, are requested to provide a responsible interaction with the environment, which should massively involve societal tissue for a sustainable future.

The search for interactivity and a greater degree of contextualization within the geographical space have fostered the integration of several technological mechanisms already applied in other areas of knowledge. The advent of multimedia technologies and augmented reality brings new challenges that arise in detriment of new forms of representation and dissemination of geodiversity and geological heritage. In this way, the objective of this work is to consider the main challenges when using image data acquired with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (VANTs), the georeferenced information processed in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the adaptation of the techniques of digital photogrammetry and multimedia technologies to existing static resources while maintaining user interactivity. The combination of these features can be called geointegration. This methodology also seeks to promote better results of the interval between the user, the computational visualization and what is illustrated and interpreted about the object of study, which in this case are the elements of geodiversity and geosites. These technologies provide results, on the one hand, excellent and versatile technological solutions, which allow not only the construction of a platform provided with several elements such as panoramic image (which allows a global view of the surroundings of the object of study, in this case the natural landscape), as well as capturing portions of terrain that can be converted, using photogrammetric techniques, into interactive 3D objects (which allow for detailed image data with various points of view of other aspects of the object of study). These results configure effective geointegration. This use also allows to obtain a new form of geovisualization, since all the information is aggregated in a static base that allows access to the represented multimedia contents of different forms. This base is built using the technology currently available, including solutions such as maps, the WebCL platform, finally, the interaction of other actors of the Society and the representation of specialized scientific content is produced. This whole workflow involves costs as well as repetition of the rendering processes in the search for the best result of the products (three-dimensional objects), besides some legal restrictions of the use of the VANT's in certain places and due to some meteorological conditions. The paradigm is that even when faced with several functionalities in some cases, this technology is not always adequate considering the available representation resources, some aspects of the structure to be imaged and the conditions of scale.

Virtual heritage has recently received attention as a novel path to better conserve geoheritage values and sites by means of the use of advances in digital imaging technology to synthesize, reproduce, represent, and display information. Traditionally, there have been difficulties in the inventory, quantification, and consolidation of relevant geoheritage sites, especially as concerns the limited tools for an adequate understanding of its complex nature and multiple connections to other landscape values, including biodiversity, cultural values, and the more integrative concept of biogeocultural heritage. This point of contention has been particularly felt in Latin America: although relevant heritage sites are in peril of disappearing, the application of geoheritage and geoconservation concepts has been relatively slow and there continue to be salient difficulties in reaching audiences beyond academic circles. Extant Chilean biogeocultural geoheritage is remarkable not just due to its immense and impressive geoforms, running the gamut from arid to cold–humid climates with their respective geodiversities; it also harbors natural values regarding the same geological and geomorphological richness. The remarkable cultural and historic contributions from original communities are essential to understanding the dynamically evolved Andes geosystem over vast geological periods. Based on the above, this chapter seeks to advance, first, effective action to protect geoheritage in Chile; and second, to reframe that geoheritage with other landscape, biological, and cultural values toward the more holistic concept of biogeocultural heritage, and do so by integrating aspects of ancient and current communities with deep historical ties to this diverse landscape. This goal is forwarded through the implementation of the novel languages and practices made available by geovisualization. Integrally, this is the Virtual Heritage process and includes the use of mobile apps in which wider audiences may interact across critical aspects of environmental and social conflicts.

This paper, being conceptual in nature, arises out of the imperatives of sustainable usage of both natural and man-made heritage resources, particularly, monuments, parks and other natural resources which are generally consumed for the purposes of tourism. The paper observed the obligation of centralising the planet Earth in the consciousness of global development. In this regard, the paper argued for an adoption of the communitarian ethics as a frame of reference in any development project. Communitarian ethics has been found on the principle of common good. Thus, following this framework any development would meet the sustainable development obligation only if was predicated, not on individual or unilateral interests but on the interests of the global community at large. This is what the concept of communitarianism is about.

This paper is an attempt to recognize ecological and socio-economic vulnerability to climate change in some selected mouzas of Gosaba Block, Indian Sundarbans. Ecological vulnerability has been identified by intensive studies on plant morphology (plant height, leaf area, leaf count, branches/plant) and stomata index to probe into the variation between the plants growing in salt-affected areas and those growing in the areas free from such phenomena. GPS survey has been conducted to perceive stretches of embankment breaching to perceive physical vulnerability. Socio-economic vulnerability has been worked out from the information and facts extracted from the primary household survey. Data collected on socio-demographic profile, livelihood strategies, health, food, water, social networks, natural disaster and climatic variability, indicators for Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI), and Livelihood Vulnerability Index–Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (LVI–IPCC) have been used to measure and evaluate the vulnerability of individual mouzas suffering from recurrent flooding, coastal erosion, and embankment breaching. The findings may assist the government and non-government groups to improve sectors for better coping and adaptation strategies for the poor households located in the marginal areas.

Today thanks to having knowledge about the geology, it is necessary to protect the areas of geological heritage and geosite and inform the people about them. In this study, the Zonguldak hard coal basin and fossils and pollens of coal in the basin were aimed to be evaluated as a geosite. Fossils and pollens of coal as a geosite have been studied from geological point of view in detail and aimed to draw attention of the researchers and local authorities Zonguldak hard coal basin’s historical, cultural sides and also create awareness to the geosite and geosite areas and bring these basin as an alternative for geotourism. Hard coal which is the most important underground wealth in the Zonguldak basin, and coal fossils, Carboniferous, aged between 290 and 350 million years, are found in the basin. Zonguldak hard coal basin on the Black Sea coast is 160 km in length through the E-W line between Eregli and Inebolu and has 1,100,357,359 tons of geological coal reserves in total. Alacaagzi, Kozlu, and Karadon formations in the region contain Carboniferous aged coal fossils. The samples of coal fossils are gathered from the sample archive of Turkish Hard Coal Enterprises, Department of Plan-Project and Facility as well as the personal fossil collections. It is determined that fossils of the coal formations in Zonguldak basin are the elements of geological heritage and the region containing those coal formations with fossils is the geosite area. Therefore, the detected geosite area should be taken under protection not only to understand the coal formation in the region but also to be able to transfer this information to the next generations. To protect and to introduce the geosite to the next generations, coal fossils, which were formed millions of years ago and which are of great significance in terms of geological heritage, should be protected under appropriate conditions; a museum which contains a collection of coal fossils should be established in the region. The museum will be also important institution that will help to the presentation, discovery, and protection of these geosite fields. Creating a museum containing fossil collection, introduction, protection, and transmission of the geosite to the next generation is important for the development of geotourism and the sustainable regional development.

Permanent gullies and badlands are found on all continents and their spectacular nature and beauty has attracted scientists, artists and tourists. These landforms are elements of geomorphic heritage and development of geoeducation is the best way to transfer geomorphological knowledge to society. Gullies and badlands have been studied for many years, and their value for geoheritage is well recognized in many places. However, tourism promotion and interest in such sites vary a lot among tourists. Badlands in Africa, India, South Africa are rarely visited by local people or national citizens, in contrast to such sites in the European Mediterranean and North America, where badlands attract many national and international geotourists. This chapter discusses the worldwide importance of badlands and gullies as geoheritage sites and also the need for their conservation through the development of geotourism. The advantages and disadvantages of gullies and badlands as geosites at a regional and global scale are discussed.

Most part of the population finishes their secondary studies without basic notions about Earth Sciences. For this purpose, the geoscientific community is promoting a reintroduction of this discipline and Geoethics, by means of field activities in geosites, geoparks, and geological parks. The survey conducted by the manager of the Geological Park of Aliaga (Teruel, Spain) aims to compare the geological, environmental, and ethical knowledge acquired by the children of the community attending summer courses on Geology and nature with regard to other children and adults. Results show that children who have been attending the summer courses had a higher knowledge than adults, not only about the environment, but also about the implications of the human activities in the territory. Children no students and young people have shown lower geological and environmental knowledge than adults, and therefore, they are falling behind in the basic education. This minor knowledge is inadmissible, due to the fact that they will become a predatory society incapable of judging the repercussions of the actions in the territory. On the other hand, the higher knowledge of the ex-students of the intensive courses shows the positive effect that these courses can have on the education of future professionals.

In the United States, a unique geotourism venue exists with fossil parks. These sites provide informal geoscience education for the visitor while also permitting the sustainable collection and retention of a small number of personal fossils. US fossil parks bridge the protected and well-interpreted US National Park Service sites (where no fossil or rock collecting is allowed, but visitor education is developed through signage and visitors’ centers) and public fossiliferous outcrops that local collectors may visit and find fossils to keep, but which do not offer any educational instruction for the uninformed or casual visitor. Because fossils illustrate geologic time, evolution and extinction, and Earth’s changes in biodiversity, sea level, and climate, they can be used to improve visitors’ geoliteracy by addressing several big ideas of the Earth Science Literacy Initiative (ESLI in Earth science literacy principles: The big ideas and supporting concepts of Earth science. National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C., 2010) that all people should understand in order to live harmoniously on our planet. Many variables contribute to visitors’ enjoyment and improved geoliteracy at fossil parks, including the authenticity of collecting experiences, geological age of the strata, training opportunities for visitors with regards to fossil retrieval, availability of paleontology mentors, ease of fossil identification by visitors, the organization of the site, and site accessibility, including visitor safety and handicapped visitor access (Clary and Wandersee in Qualitative Inquiry in geoscience education research, GSA special papers, vol 474. Geological Society of America, Denver, CO, USA, pp. 113–134, 2011; Lessons from US fossil parks for effective informal science education. Geoheritage 6(4):241–256, 2014). Underdeveloped fossil park sites can be optimized through the fossil park model and targeting the Earth Science Literacy Initiative’s 9 big ideas (Clary in Handbook of geotourism. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, pp. 244–253, 2018) However, this process is more challenging when the park contains marine fossils and is located near a coastal area. Three US Miocene-age coastal sites were researched in 2016: Calvert Cliffs State Park, Maryland, Purse State Park, Maryland, and Westmoreland State Park, Virginia. At each of the parks, extensive observations were recorded, fossils were collected, onsite signage and website information were coded and analyzed, and the park was scored with the fossil park model. All three sites faced challenges for promoting visitor geoliteracy. Visitors struggled to understand (1) fossils were millions of years old, (2) many fossils represented extinct organisms; and (3) sea level had been higher in the past leading to the deposition of the fossiliferous layers. Even with additional interpretive challenges, the parks can extend visitor geoliteracy for optimized geotourism opportunities.

The paper presents a research starting from an acquired analysis of a general lack of sensitivity towards the Earth Sciences in Italian schools, also extended to the social and cultural background. This research has mainly analysed the Italian context, and it highlights that the problem resulting from a lack of sensitivity directly leads to a lack of attention to the territory which whereas requires to be protected and “geo-preserved”. If the aim is to promote the culture of geoscience, but alike to enhance the sensitivity towards geo-heritage or geo-conservation, geo-sites can become a kind of learning objects, useful in the teaching–learning process. The use of geo-sites as learning objects has been experimented effectively in various other contexts both for their scientific interest or beauty and for their dramatic aspect, in the case of a catastrophic event; whatever is the reason, they represent an opportunity for cultural enrichment and awareness. To turn the “geological object” into an opportunity to deepen in the scientific contents and to develop skills, but also to promote sensitivity and passion, the use of effective methodological approaches is however necessary.

Geoheritage sites are scientifically, educationally and culturally significant for mankind. These include the areas like rock sites, cave sites or shelters, waterfalls, springs, lakes, minerals or mining sites having Outstanding Universal Value with notable geological features. Besides having great opportunities for tourism in areas of Eco-tourism, Bio-tourism, Tribal tourism, Ethno-Tourism, Village tourism, Folk tourism, Medical tourism and Archaeological tourism, Chhattisgarh state has also a wide scope of geotourism. Chhattisgarh is the abode of a large number of geological sites. The Kutumsar cave and Chitrakot Waterfall in Bastar, Bailadila iron ore mines in Bastar, coal mines in Korba, Raigarh, Raipur, etc., Tatapani Hot Water Lake in Balrampur and many other sites in Chhattisgarh are the good examples of natural geosites. The overexploitation of natural resources for the sake of heavy industrialization and mining activities will lead to the extinction of these sites in Chhattisgarh in the near future. Therefore, it is high time to aware and educate the local people about the scientific, religious and educational importance of these geoheritage sites. The government should take more and more initiative in promoting and popularizing the geotourism in these areas and should make geosites protection law and geoethics for the use of geoheritage sites. Promoting geotourism with proper laws and ethics will not only lead to the conservation and protection of these geosites but also help in economic upliftment of the local people.

As an important way to protect the natural heritage, a natural heritage protected area has a significant role in the historical, cultural, and scientific values of geological heritage. So the protection should be strengthened. This paper is committed to explore the evaluation index system for the protection effectiveness of natural heritage protected areas, so as to obtain the general understanding of the current situation and problems of the heritage and provide the comprehensive and scientific basis for the protection of geological and paleontological heritage and the rational development of nature reserves.

This chapter provides an overview of geotourism’s development from the late seventeenth century to the present day. It mainly draws upon examples from the United Kingdom (UK), in which the geotourism concept was first formally recognised and defined. Specifically, it examines, as the birthplace of early geotourism, the English Lake District and Peak District. It also examines central southern England as the location of the beginnings of early modern geotourism. It explores, as geohistory, how the rise of countryside-focused travel and the emergence of aesthetic landscape movements supported the development of early geotourism. Modern geotourism, a twentieth paradigm, is then examined, especially in relation to its role in geoconservation and the provision of geo-interpretation; it is also set within the framework of modern tourism. Finally, possible future geotourism developments in the UK and elsewhere in Europe are explored.

Geodiversity (geological, geomorphological, soil and hydrological features) are considered the main resource for geotourist and geoeducational activities which are (or should be) closely related and should support each other. Geoeducation can help to increase recognition of geodiversity and geoheritage at all the levels, can have a positive effect on the behaviour of visitors to geotouristic attractions, it can help maintain the geotourism activities in a rational scale and it helps to avoid the overexploitation of geoheritage for geotourism purposes. In opposite, sustainable geotourism development can make the geoeducational resources more accessible and available. A specific position within said resources is occupied by geomorphological features. While the geotourist and geoeducational importance of landforms is indisputable, especially thanks to their scientific, aesthetical or cultural values, the geomorphological processes are sometimes considered hazards and not resources for such activities. The example from Kokomeren valley in Kyrgyzstan shows that even an active process can serve geotourist and geoeducationl purposes. Another specific issue of geomorphological resources is represented by anthropogenic landforms: although their position within heritage concept is not clear, their potential for geotourist and geoeducational activities is undeniable which is supported by several examples from all over the world.

Dinosaurs are not only a very popular science topic, throughout the world, paleontological tourism highlighting dinosaur paleontological sites is booming. Dinosaur outcrops, “hot spots” of paleontological discoveries, are valorized into geotourism destinations contributing to local economic development based on a specific territorial resource: the paleontological resource. Even though the first discoveries of dinosaurs and the beginning of academic paleontological studies already had their origin in Europe in the nineteenth century, dinosaur geotourism is more recent and has developed significantly in the past decades. The following chapter will present an overview of the diversity of dinosaurian geotouristic sites in Europe. To highlight the geotouristic trajectories of chosen paleontological sites, several case studies will be presented. A few of them have joined the UNESCO Global Geopark network in order to gain a greater notoriety, others are outside of geopark’s territory or have chosen out of different reasons to manage their development by private companies or a public–private partnership. However, whatever the scientific interest of the sites, the success of these tourism projects must be based on a structured network of actors, gathering scientists, tourism stakeholders supported by local policy-makers, and of course local population.

This paper examines how geoheritage, geopark and geotourism concepts can be used as tools for sustainable tourism development and conservation in Zambia. It introduces the various concepts in earth heritage namely geology, geomorphology, geological heritage (geo-heritage), geosite, geoheritage conservation, geopark, geotourism and sets out Zambia from a geopolitical context in Africa in relation to its neighbouring nations and projects its geodiversity and geoheritage in terms of the various geological formations that include the Basement Complex, Katanga Supergroup, Karoo Supergroup and the Kalahari Supergroup that houses the Barotse Floodplain of cultural heritage. Furthermore, key features such as escarpments, valleys, gorges and waterfalls are also described. Zambia is being depicted as very rich in geodiversity which has given birth to a numerous geoheritage sites. The National Heritage Conservation Commission (NHCC) Act is the principal law, which is applicable in the field of heritage protection and conservation in Zambia. This also involves declaring sites of nationally geological importance, rock art sites and caves of archaeological significance amongst many heritage typologies as national monuments. However, there are other pieces of legislation such as the National Museums Board Act and National Parks and Wildlife Act, as well as National Forest Act which are also relevant in the protection and management of earth heritage in Zambia. Besides the laws on heritage conservation and management, there are institutions that have an interest in geoheritage and these include the NHCC, the Geological Survey Department, the University of Zambia School of Mines, Water Resources Management Authority and National Museums Board. At global level, Zambia is a signatory to the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention which protects sites (including geological/geomorphological sites of global significance) such as the Victoria/Mosi-oa-Tunya Falls as World Heritage Site. Besides declaring a few geological heritage sites as National Monuments, Zambia has recorded 219 geological heritage sites, 225 geomorphological sites, 742 rock art sites, some of these are painted caves; over 139 sites as hot and mineralized springs. Amongst the geomorphological sites, there are also sinkholes and waterfalls. Zambia has also recorded type localities and the largest open-pit mines in Africa. However, despite this potential, Zambia has no geoparks compared to South Africa and Tanzania which have. Further, the discussion on geotourism has been seldom absent in the Zambian tourism marketing scenario despite the rich geological diversity of the nation as well as setting tourism as one of the priority socio-economic sectors by Zambia’s Seventh National Development Plan. The government through the NHCC has put in place deliberate measures of providing basic tourism infrastructure at most of these sites to improve on visitor experience at these sites. Entry fees are charged on visits to these heritage sites. Zambia also promotes palaeontological and archaeological research through research permits. Further, the government promotes sustainable tourism development at these geoheritage sites through tourism, public–private partnerships and community involvement policies. Any major developmental projects are subjected to environment/heritage impact assessments. The concepts of geoheritage, geopark and geotourism have not been applied but will indeed do so by fostering conservation and sustain the development of tourism in Zambia for socio-economic development.

Mount Manengouba (MM) is one of the most voluminous volcanic apparatus along the Cameroon Volcanic Line. It is made up of two nested calderas notably, Eboga and Elengoum. Numerous landforms are found on the calderas floor, rim and external slopes. Among them, there is the Djeu-Seh Basin (DSB). It is located on the Eastern slopes of MM, in the Mbouroukou Village. It is made up of volcanic rock, namely pyroclastic ejectas and basalts. DSB is funnel-like shaped with internal slopes very steeper in certain parts. This landform has been assessed through (Reynard et al., Geoheritage 8:43–60, 2016) methodology. The scientific value of the DSB is high (0.88), because it is well preserved (1), rare (1), and representative (1) of the whole geomorphology of the eastern slopes of MM. It also plays an important role in the geographical history (0.5) of MM. DSB has an average ecological value due to the fact that it is not protected. However, the ecological influence remains quite high because it is important for biological diversity. The aesthetic value is high because the relief structuring and it is lengthened in a southwest–northeast direction. In addition, the color contrast embellishes the landscape of DSB. The cultural value of the site is insignificant. The site is characterized by a quiet environment and good accessibility. This landform is unique in the MM and constitutes the natural laboratory for outdoor training and is the main attraction for visitors who are still insignificant nowadays. It appears that the geotouristic values of DSB are underexploited.

In the sector of tourism, all issues are associated with the “magic number” of tourists that visit certain destination. The assessment of physical carrying capacity is an important component in the planning of spatial development to maintain sustainability for establishing standards in tourism sector. Study area has rich cultural and religious identity of tribal community as well as eco-system of cold desert which make it unlike any other in the world. Estimating tourist’s threshold value of the destinations becomes vital considering the recent tragedies at the pilgrimage destinations in nearby hilly areas in Himalayas. Therefore, the present research assesses the physical carrying capacity of three selected tourist spots in Kinnaur based on the guidelines suggested by International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). As per calculations, the number of PCC, RCC, and ECC of selected tourist spots in Kinnaur are 64,835, 9595, and 5928, respectively. It is found that ECC is the most acceptable type of carrying capacity and the present status of tourism activity is highly under exploited vis-a-vis its carrying capacity in the study area.

This chapter describes the collaborative development of a teaching innovation called Educational Geo Routes (GRE, for its name in Spanish), with a group of teachers working in public schools of the city of Puchuncaví, Chile. We will first describe the theoretical–practical components that give meaning to the GREs as well as the educational emphasis we have tried to give to them. We will then describe the context in which its design took place and the collaboration focus based on the interactive teaching training models for both the work between teachers and the relationship of the teachers with the support team. The designing process was developed during 2018 and was focused on the relationship between the socio-environmental context of the students and their schools with the national curriculum. We will present some of the GREs designed by the teachers and the results obtained when evaluating this experience, which led us to conclude that GREs provide a strong strategy for teachers to achieve relevant and quality learning in their students. In addition, we refer to the benefits of collaborative work for the participants without setting aside the personal, professional and institutional elements that promote or limit it.