RIYADH – The Saudi Ministry of Culture has provided an intensive course on “Leadership in Geological Heritage Conservation" (LGHC) which falls under The International Geoscience and Geoparks Programme (IGGP); the latest to be delivered under its ‘Experts Program’. A contextualize UNESCO training initiative to UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGp)  the LGHC course supports research and capacity development in Geosciences and Earth Sciences in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Organized in partnership with the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science in the Arab States, the leadership course convened 13 participants spanning the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Sultanate of Oman. Dr. Nuria Sanz - Head of UNESCO Regional Bureau for Sciences in the Arab States in Cairo, praised the importance of this course to mobilize national private and public institutions to push forward the regional and national agendas of UNESCO Global Geopark in the Arab region. She highlighted the importance of sustaining the successful partnership with the Saudi Ministry of Culture to build series of Leadership courses addressing either geological heritage conservation or biodiversity protection in UNESCO biosphere reserves.

Led by Dr. Elsa Sattout, Regional Programme Specialist of the Ecology and Earth Sciences at UNESCO Cairo, the course comprised contributions from an interdisciplinary group of international and regional speakers to cover all facets of geological heritage conservation and management including:

·      Dr. Patrick Mc Keever– Special Advisor, Global Geoparks Network from Ireland;

·      Dr. John Calder – Global Geoparks Network Executive Member from Canada;

·      Dr. Mohamed Sameh – Expert Natural Heritage Conservation & Management from Egypt;

·      Dr. Mohamed Talaat – Expert Natural Heritage Conservation & Management from Egypt

·       Dr. Nicolas Heard – Head of Fund Management at The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Abu Dhabi;

·      Mr. Driss Achbal – President of the Geopark M’Goun Association, Morocco;

·      Ms. Sarah Campbell and Ms. Jenna McQueen – Tumbler Ridge UNESCO Global Geopark,Canada;

·      Mr. Carlos Merizalde –Coordinator of the Ecuadorian Geoparks Committee, Ecuador; 

·      José Patrício Pereira Melo –Coordinator of Araripe UGGP, Brazil;

·      and Ms. Maria Mateo – Lanzarote and Chinijo Islands UGGp, Spain.

The course explored substantial and technical approaches to geological heritage conservation and management while reflecting on the experiences of experts across Europe, Latin America and North African-Arab countries. At the conclusion of the course, field exploration in the King Khaled Royal Reserve was organized for the application of the information and knowledge acquired during the course.

The LGHC-IGGP course is one of 30 specialized UNESCO training programmes offered by the Ministry of Culture within its ‘Experts’ development initiative. The initiative aims to increase the proportion of Saudi experts in the field of cultural and natural heritage as well as increase the number of Saudi experts specialized in preparing and managing projects and initiatives in major international organizations.

ENDS