Nature provides all the goods, conditions and services for the maintenance of life, societies and human wellbeing.
Most of the approaches (e.g. United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment) advertise these
benefits as ecosystem services, mostly associated to the renewable resources on a biological basis. More
recently, non-renewable and renewable geodiversity services are being framed into the MA ecosystem services
categories: regulating, supporting, provisioning, and cultural services (Gray et al., 2013). In order to promote
the geodiversity values, the Terras de Cavaleiros UNESCO Global Geopark (TCUGG) is now introducing the
geodiversity services concept in the educational and touristic programmes.
All geosites can be presented within the scope of the geodiversity cultural services taking into account that
they provide data to develop our scientific knowledge. In the most important TCUGG geosites, the educational
approach stress the contribution of these sites to the knowledge of the Earth history. Geodiversity cultural
services also include aspects like recreation or spiritual experiences, with numerous examples in TCUGG, as
well as in all other geoparks.
The TCUGG promotes the understating of the sustainable use of geodiversity provisioning services and offers
teachers training and educational programmes focused on geological resources. These programmes include
the visit to active quarries exploiting construction materials, and mines exploiting industrial minerals like talc
(active) and tungsten (inactive). Other provisioning services like freshwater and mineral water are mentioned
in the geosites related with thermal springs in the geopark. This topic is also addressed in the geopark
interpretative centre dedicated to the characteristics, origins and uses of ore minerals.
The geodiversity supporting services refers to the geology as an essential foundation for biodiversity (services
to the ecosystems) and human activities (direct supporting services). Locally, the Earth dynamics is expressed
by a diversified landscape with mountains, plateaus and valleys sculpted on a variety of rocks, which results on
a remarkable biodiversity. One of the TCUGG educational programmes is focused on the relief as the
structuring element of the landscape and on the relationship between geodiversity and biodiversity. Soil
processes, especially weathering and soil profile development, are well observed in many outcrops and
geosites. The understanding of the slow soil formation, on the scale of the geological time, raises awareness
for the importance of its conservation. The habitat provision is also clearly comprehensive in the Morais massif,
the core of the geopark, were the endemic vegetation is clearly related to the occurrence of exotic ultramafic
rocks.
Direct geodiversity supporting services to human well-being are represented by the hydroelectric dam in Tuela
river gorge and by the wind power on the top of Bornes Mountain.
Finally, examples of geodiversity regulation services are scattered throughout the TCUGG. These services can
be illustrated with the importance of rocks as essential natural filters for water quality regulation in the context
of the hydrological cycle, and the importance of the rock cycle as a nature regulation service, attending to its
importance for carbon sequestration, storage and climate regulation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
