Team Wanderlust | 10 April 2024
The 18 new UNESCO Global Geoparks for 2024, in photos
From sky-high monasteries in Greece to deep gorges in China, these are the latest landscapes to join UNESCO's Global Geopark network...
From sky-high monasteries in Greece to deep gorges in China, these are the latest landscapes to join UNESCO's Global Geopark network...
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) have recently announced 18 new geoparks, bringing its total global network up to 218 geoparks, spread across 48 countries.
Created in 2015, the UNESCO Global Geopark designation aims to recognise and protect the world’s ‘geological heritage with international significance’.
The latest countries to receive one or more geoparks in 2024 include Belgium, Brazil, China, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
Most notable is China, who has received six new geoparks. Enshi Grand Canyon-Tenglongdong Cave Geopark is one the standout additions, well-known for its striking karst topography that has been eroded through by the Qingjiang river system over thousands of millennia.
A new transboundary geopark that spans both Belgium and the Netherlands has also been added to the network. Schelde Delta UNESCO Global Geopark’s has a unique location, straddling the sinking North Sea Basin and the rising Brabant Mastiff.
Greece also received a designation for one of its extraordinary landmarks. Located in the picturesque region of Thessaly, Meteora-Pyli Geopark is known for its 16th-century Byzantine monasteries that balance atop of the 300-metre high sandstone ‘columns of the sky’.
Continue browsing our gallery below to admire the full list of new UNESCO Global Geoparks in 2024.
Dintelse Gorzen in Schelde Delta UNESCO Global Geopark (Alamy)
Uberaba is home to thousands of fossils (Daniel Vitor Teodoro)
The otherwordly rock formations of Enshi Grand Canyon (Shutterstock)
Bingling Cave Temple at Linxia (Alamy)
Danxia cliff scenery in Longyan UNESCO Global Geopark (Shutterstock)
Tianchi Lake in Mount Changbaishan (Alamy)
Wugongshan at sunrise (Shutterstock)
Karst peaks at Xingyi (Alamy)
Biokovo-Imotski is a hikers paradise (Shutterstock)
Lighthouse on the island of Als in South Fyn Archipelago (Shutterstock)
Impact Crater Lake at Lappajärvi (Alamy)
Cape Pen-Hir at Armorique (Shutterstock)
Normandie-Maine UNESCO Global Geopark has geology dating back 6,000 years (Alamy)
Meoteora Pyli is known for its rock-balancing monasteries (Shutterstock)
The salt domes at Egerszalók in Bükk (Shutterstock)
Ostrzyca Proboszczowska is one of the extinct volcanoes in this Polish Geopark (Shutterstock)
Geological layers along the coastline within Oeste UNESCO Global Geopark (Alamy)
Calatrava La Nueva Castle is part of this Spanish Geopark (Alamy)
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