Geoheritage Potential Assessment of the Nino Konis Santana National Park Geotourism Area, Timor-Leste: A First Step Toward UNESCO Global Geopark Status
摘要
Timor-Leste requires diversification of its economy to provide a sustainable future for the country and its people, with geotourism offering one such avenue to achieve this. Globally, it has been demonstrated that UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGp) represent a strong tool for promoting and managing geotourism in areas of significant geoheritage. One of the first steps in establishing a UGGp is documenting and assessing an area’s geoheritage. Here, for the first time, we present a geoheritage assessment of the Nino Konis Santana National Park geotourism area in Timor-Leste, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative approaches, including field-based mapping and spatial analysis. This work demonstrates that the area boasts internationally significant geoheritage with diverse geological, ecological, cultural, and historical assets, making it ideal for geotourism development and a future UGGp candidate. Whilst geoheritage is a key criterion, there are many additional criteria that need to be met before the park can be proposed as a UGGp candidate and this will require sustained coordination and collaboration of several national organizations.