UNESCO Global Geoparks

UNESCO Global Geoparks
Logos of the GGN
World map of geoparks included in the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network (GGN) as of 2020 [needs update?]
Etymology	Brand name for marketing the parks
Owned by	The nation(s) in which the park is defined
Administered by	various models
Camp sites	Defined by park
Hiking trails	Defined by park
Terrain	Sites and habitats of geological interest
Water	Possibly
Vegetation	Possibly
Species	Possibly
Collections	Possibly
Designation	UNESCO designations of national, regional, and global geoparks
Budget	Sustainable
Parking	Possibly
Connecting transport	Possibly
Facilities	Possibly
Website	Typically

UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGp) are geoparks certified by the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council as meeting all the requirements for belonging to the Global Geoparks Network (GGN). The GGN is both a network of geoparks and the agency of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).^[1] that administers the network.

The agency was founded in 2004 in partnership with the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). The network was set up to conserve Earth's geological heritage, as well as to promote the sustainable research and development by the concerned communities. To implement these goals they adopted the concept of geopark, a term that had already been in use for one of the proposed parks. Geoparks were conceived as "single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustainable development."

As the geopark did not naturally conform to all those requirements, compliance involved considerable work of the country where the geopark was to be located. In essence, the park had to be not only protected, but marketed sustainably to the public. In 2015, the Member States of UNESCO ratified the rebranding to the current name.

Since 2015, the application and designation process has been defined by the Statutes and Operational Guidelines of the UGGp.^[2] As of April 2023, there were 195 UGGp's in 48 countries.^[3] There are now GGN member sites situated in five of seven continents, there being none currently in either Antarctica or Australasia. There are not yet (2022) global geoparks in the United States. China is the country with the largest number of global geoparks.^{[attribution needed]}