Indian Geoparks as a concept:
Integration of important geological site (which holds valuable information regarding rock, fossil, structure, an event of geological magnitude) with history and culture so as to attract the children and tourists with the aim of imparting local geological, history and cultural knowledge to them.
The purpose of the site is also to give a platform to form a bridge between scientists, geologists, historians and artists to interact with the common man visiting the geopark answer his queries and inculcate feeling of pride in them about the rich culture and heritage of the land.
The aim of the site is to protect and preserve in situ fossil sites, rocks and structures so as to let children, tourists, researchers , scientists have the first hand feeling of how rocks and fossils were formed and what information does they represent.
Any museum, historical building, institute etc. which add to the knowledge of the Geopark will automatically be part of the IndianGeopark.
An example for the geopark with all ingredients of geology, history, culture, museum, old railway track, water supply scheme, building etc is KasauliGeopark.
Background: UNESCO Global Geoparks of Global Geopark Network, are single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, Geoparks must also include important natural, historic, cultural tangible and intangible heritage sites. A Geopark must have geological heritage of international significance for the evaluation process, and is assessed by geo-scientific experts, from the International Union of Geosciences (IUGS). IndianGeoparks are similar to Geoparks with an aim to conserve Geoheritage, impart knowledge in Geology to public.
IndianGeoparks also include historic, cultural tangible and intangible heritage sites, for Geotourism. Tracks for Geotourism are designed following best practices for tourism. Some IndianGeoparks may seek UNESCO GEOPARK approval. Then they will be labelled as a ‘GEOPARK’, open for international tourism as part of Global Geopark Network(GGN).
Mr V Ravi Kumar
A geologist (>3 decades) with a passion for geotourism to establish Geoparks in India. Open geosource is another passion https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User_talk:Ravivundavalli.
Dr Ritesh Arya
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritesh_Arya
Kasauli IndianGeopark is an attempt in this direction
