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The UNESCO Global Geoparks Network was established in November 2015 replacing the earlier UNESCO-assisted Global Geoparks Network (GGN) which was established in 1998. 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. The GGN membership is formed by national geological parks, or geoparks—local areas focused on the protection of geological features and heritage.
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The first batch of members to the GGN were announced during the first International Conference on Geoparks in 2004. By late 2015, 120 geoparks from 33 countries had officially become part of the GGN family. There are now GGN member sites situated in 5 of 7 continents and there being none currently in either Antarctica or Australasia. Notably there are currently (2015) no global geoparks in either the United States or former Soviet Union territory as well as in South Asia, Central America and most parts of Africa (except Morocco and Canarias) and Middle East (except Turkey). China is the country with the largest number of global geoparks.
List by country/territory
Many of the names in the list below appear in slightly different forms in different documents or webpages, particularly where they have been anglicised.
Former members of the GGN
Whilst the length of the list has grown year on year, some members drop out from time to time, either by choice or by failing the network's revalidation procedures.