Dong Van Karst geopark

really enjoy their Song.. very classical. :-)

2nd Geopark in Southeast Asia

Now, i will upgrade new numbers of geopark as recognized by UNESCO... as far a i am concern, until May 2011,77 Geoparks in 25 Member States are currently members of the Global Geoparks Network assisted by UNESCO.

Considered before that Langkawi Geopark was the only one in SouthEast Asia awarded as geopark status, now we must proud to welcome Dong Van karst plateau Geopark in Vietnam as a 2nd Geopark in ASEAN countries.

Dong Van Karst Plateau is unique combination between Geoheritages and cutural heritages. Which has created great potential for tourism and attracted many visitor within and outside country.Dong Van rocky plateau not only considered as sculpture product, a historical rocky page of the nature present to human life but also contain a lot of potential values such as, Geoheritages, bilogical diversity, tourism, fossils...

for more info, u can visit this site http://en.dongvangeopark.com

National Symposium of Heritage and Conservation 2011

Arus Perdana Project, "Geopark as a regional sustainable development" under Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in collaboration with Sarawak Mineral and Geoscience Department and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) have succesfully conducted and organized National Conference on Heritage and Conservation 2011.

This event was held on 29 April until 1st of May 2011 at Grand Margherita Hotel, Kuching Sarawak. This symposium aspires to enhance participation and networking between various types of diciplines, for instance, geology, biodiversity, culture, governans and education. A total of 70 participants were attended this Symposium which come from various agencies and deparments.

more pictures after this.....

Conference on Geoparks

Langkawi Geopark

one of the limestone rocks that can be viewed at Langkawi Geopark.

Dayang Bunting Island

Langkawi Geopark

1. Langkawi Geopark is located in northern State of Kedah and it is unique in the sense that it was formed on 99 islands that together made up the legendary Langkawi Archipelago. The total land area of Langkawi Geopark is about 478km2.

2. In Langkawi geological history, much of its geological development was somewhat linked to what had happened 550 million years ago. It started in the deposition of Machinchang sandstone in a latchstring environment during much of the Cambrian time, followed by the submergence of the land during Late Cambrian time (--500m.y.) which allowed the invasion of shallow marine fauna into the proto-Langkawi sea.

3. The continuous subsidence of the sea floor resulted in the formation of thick limestone of Setul Formation during the Ordovician. At the end of Ordovician time (--440m.y.), the sea became too deep to eventually stop the limestone deposition temporarily.

4. What we have in Langkawi today is a combined result of these various processes and the prolonged weathering process that took place ever since the Langkawi land was brought to the surface around 220 million years ago.

5. As a result, we have a beautiful mountainous range of Machinchang sandstone at the northwestern corner of Langkawi Island, the conical Gunung Raya granite at the center and a rugged karst terrain of Setul Limestone in the eastern part of Langkawi. In the southwest of Langkawi islands, the Singa formation dominated while the Chu ping Limestone dominates the western part of Dayang Bunting Island. Some of the landscapes are truly outstanding, particularly those of the Machinchang and the karstic limestone in the eastern part of Langkawi.

Global Geoparks Network (GGN) - members

Until September 2009, there were 64 geopark in the world includes 19 countries that have been recognized by UNESCO.

Australia - (1)
Austria - (1)
Brazil - (1)
China - (22)
Croatia - (1)
Czech Republic - (1)
France - (2)
Greece - (3)
Germany - (5)
Iran - (1)
Italy - (5)
Japan - (3)
Malaysia - (1)
Norway - (1)
Portugal - (2)
Republic of Ireland - (1)
Rumania - (1)
Spain - (4)
United Kingdom - (8)