Sustainability 2015, 7(5), 4893-4918; doi:10.3390/su7054893
Community Involvement in Geoconservation: A Conceptual Approach Based on the Geoheritage of South Angola
1
Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra (Polo II), Rua Sílvio Lima, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal
2
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Coimbra (Polo II), Rua Sílvio Lima, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal
3
Geosciences Centre, University of Coimbra (Polo II), Rua Sílvio Lima, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal
4
Magistério Primário do Lubango-Nambambe, Lubango, Angola
5
Instituto Superior Politécnico da Tundavala and Escola Secundária do 2° Ciclo/Quilengues, Huíla, Angola
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Marc A. Rosen
Received: 24 March 2015 / Revised: 17 April 2015 / Accepted: 20 April 2015 / Published: 24 April 2015
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management of Geomorphological Heritage)
Abstract
In this work, it is argued that effective protection of geological objects displaying heritage value requires the local community’s involvement in all geoconservation actions, i.e., inventory, evaluation, conservation, valuation and monitoring procedures, and not only at the final part of the process, when it is expected from local communities that the physical integrity of such objects is guaranteed. Community involvement in geoheritage inventory and evaluation procedures can be appraised by using a classification system that integrates both the geoheritage properties displayed by the geological objects and usually recognized by geoscientists (i.e., relevance grade) and the social role attributed to geological objects by communities outside Earth scientists that arise from the public perception of such objects (i.e., abstract perceptiveness). Using two case studies from southern Angola (Huíla Province) where both social and scientific components were taken into account in geoheritage evaluation procedures (Tundavala and Leba geosites), we propose a conceptual community-based model, which can be applicable to geoconservation purposes and actions in other African regions and converging with the main goals of the “African Alive Corridors” initiative. View Full-TextKeywords:
geoheritage; geoconservation; community involvement; management; sustainable tourism; Tundavala; Leba; Angola; African Alive Corridors
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
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MDPI and ACS Style
Tavares, A.O.; Henriques, M.H.; Domingos, A.; Bala, A. Community Involvement in Geoconservation: A Conceptual Approach Based on the Geoheritage of South Angola. Sustainability 2015, 7, 4893-4918.
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