Reference, completed project

Promoting geological heritage: the examples of Corsica and the Chablais UNESCO Global Geopark

Like many other French regions, Corsica and the Chablais region (between Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc) have a remarkable geological heritage that deserves to be brought to the attention of as many people as possible. BRGM has helped to promote this heritage by producing a brochure, educational information sheets and a guidebook concerning these areas.

7 October 2024

Miocene calcarenite cliffs between Bonifacio and Capo Pertusato (Corsica, 2023)

The need

A region's assets include its natural heritage, reflected through the most remarkable aspects of its biodiversity and geodiversity. Although often overlooked, the geological heritage is one of the two components that make up that natural heritage, along with the biological heritage. Today, the growing popularity and development of geotourism are leading regions to make better use of this "inanimate" world. With this in mind, both Corsica and the Chablais region decided to actively promote their geological heritage and contacted BRGM to develop various educational tools and materials.

The results

In partnership with the DREAL and Corsica's regional geological heritage commission, BRGM produced:

An educational brochure explaining the concepts of geodiversity and geological heritage, as well as the work of the French national geological heritage inventory (which aims to identify all sites and objects of geological interest, whether those objects be on site or off site, and to collect and record their characteristics on easy-to-read information sheets), while providing a succinct, didactic presentation of Corsica's geological history, in which all the geological sites listed in the national geological heritage inventory (INPG) are specified,
Educational information sheets about some of the sites listed in the inventory, aimed at a wide audience.

In partnership with the Chablais UNESCO Global Geopark, BRGM also helped to produce and publish a guide to the Geological Curiosities of the Geopark, as part of the Guides des Curiosités géologiques (Geological curiosities) collection published by Les Éditions du BRGM, which now includes some thirty titles.

BRGM came on board to support our efforts to promote the inventory of Corsica's geological, mineralogical and paleontological heritage. We are really pleased with this partnership, since it has enabled us to make various resources available to the public online, notably a general presentation brochure and detailed, illustrated information sheets concerning three of the 38 sites listed in the inventory, so far. A further twenty information sheets produced by BRGM will be added to these in early 2025. Ultimately, we aim to provide an information sheet for each site.

Virginie Vincenti, Head of Biodiversity and Natural Spaces, DREAL Corsica

Documents promoting the geological heritage of Corsica (brochure and site information sheets) and the Chablais region (guide to geological curiosities)

Using the results

These education tools are aimed at a wider audience than the geoscience community. They may be used by hikers, tourists, the local population, tour guides or nature guides employed by managers of protected natural spaces, teachers of Life and Earth Sciences, students, elected officials or public decision-makers, who wish to have a better understanding and knowledge of the rich, yet often little-known, assets of their region's geological heritage.