List of UNESCO Global Geoparks in Africa
UNESCO has currently designated two UNESCO Global Geoparks in Africa, located in two state parties, Tanzania and Morocco. There are plans for national geoparks in an initial phase that could be further developed to gain the UNESCO recognition. Also on an international level, several sites of geoheritage values are inscribed on the World Heritage list under criterion VIII and/or criterion VII. Africa has a globally significant geodiversity that represents geological-geomorphological processes from the Archean to the Quaternary. However, the acknowledgement of the continent's geodiversity is still lagging behind the recognition of its biodiversity, many areas of global importance are not represented under international agreements, and national legislative acts on the protection of geoheritage are limited. UNESCO Global Geoparks The African Geoparks Network The African Geoparks Network (AGN) was founded in 2009 in Abidjan by the African Association of Women in Geosciences (AAWG) during the 5th Conference of Women and Geosciences for Peace. The scope of the organization is not limited to Africa sensum stricto, but the Middle East is also associated with it. With its mission to improve the situation of geoheritage in the region, the main objectives are the following: Identifying Geosites; Making an inventory of geosites of outstanding