Welcome

We are pleased to invite you to attend the inaugural meeting of ProGEO's Southwest Europe Regional Working Group, organized in conjunction and within the International Conference on Geoevents, Geological Heritage, and the Role of the IGCP to be held in Caravaca de la Cruz, southeastern Spain, from Wednesday 15th to Saturday 18th of September 2010.

Many regional meetings of the different Working Groups of ProGEO have been organized at variable intervals under the sponsorship of a local host national group volunteering to patronize an event of this kind. The organization of a Southwest Regional Working Group encompassing France, Italy, Portugal and Spain has been delayed for too long. The Spanish members of ProGEO have decided to take the opportunity provided by the Municipal Council of Caravaca, which has graciously offered to sponsor the conference, in cooperation with the IGCP Spanish National Committee and the Commission on Geological Heritage of the Geological Society of Spain.

We therefore invite all members of ProGEO from France, Italy and Portugal to join us and present their experiences, activities and accomplishments in geoconservation at their respective countries, to participate in fieldtrips and social activities organized for the event, and to further discuss topics of common interest in relation with geoheritage and geodiversity. Participation is open to colleagues from other countries.

This meeting is also open to anybody interested in geoconservation and geoheritage, whether members or not of the aforementioned organizations. It will be an excellent occasion to deal with, share and promote initiatives and projects having in common the geoheritage of southwestern Europe.

This first decade of the 21st Century has seen a fast advancement of concepts and ideas in geoconservation, numerous initiatives have been taken in this direction, and many colleagues are becoming interested on the subject and willing to contribute. In this sense, it is important to hold periodical meetings in order to share and learn, contribute and participate.

The celebration of the event in conjunction with the IGCP Spanish Committee is not trivial. So far, the results of IGCP Projects have allowed to recognize and set aside numerous localities worldwide, which show uniqueness in their fossil record, stratigraphic significance, geomorphological features, etc., and which frequently are of global relevance. These findings prompted conservation programs such as Geosites and Geoparks to the IGCP. The inventory, charaterization and proper management of these localities will allow their preservation, thereby building mutually beneficial relationships between geoscientists, site owners and/or local and regional authorities.

Invited talks

• IUCN contribution to geoconservation: perspectives from the Mediterranean Office
  by Andrés Alcántara, UICN-Med Spanish liaison Coordinator.
• Geoconservation in Italy: from census to promotion
  by Gerardo Brancucci, Italian representative to ProGEO, M. Burlando, V. Marin and P. Salmona.
• Geoconservation in Portugal: an updated perspective about geosites inventory, legal setting, conservation and educational issues
  by José Brilha, Portuguese representative to ProGEO.
• Advances on Geoconservation in Spain.
  by Enrique Díaz, Chairman of the Geological Heritage Commission of the Geological Society of Spain, IGME
  
• European Geopark Network and the Spanish Geoparks by Milagros Pérez Villalba, Red Espacios Naturales Protegidos de Andalucía, Luis Alcalá, Pablo Rivas Palomo and Alicia Serna Barquero.
• Geoheritage in France: from inventory to geotourism
  by Patrick de Wever, French representative to ProGEO.

Field-trips

Pre-conference
• Geosites of Murcia Region, on September 15th, 2010, sponsored by the Municipal Council of Jumilla (Murcia)
  
• Mining in the Cartagena-La Unión Ranges, on September 15th, 2010
  
Post-conference
• The Cabo de Gata-Níjar Geopark, on September 18th, 2010, sposored by the Regional Government of Andalusia
  
• Maestrazgo Cultural Parck (geopark), on September 18-19, 2010, sponsored by the Regional Government of Aragon

Organizers

Geological Society of Spain (Commission on Geological Heritage)
European Association for the Conservation of Geological Heritage (ProGEO)
Caravaca de la Cruz Municipal Council

Sponsor

Caravaca de la Cruz Municipal Council

Collaborators

Geological Survey of Spain (IGME)
IUCN Office for the Mediterranean (IUCN-Med)
Regional Government of Murcia
Spanish Committee of IUCN (CEUICN)
Spanish Society for the Defense of Geological and Mining Heritage
Consejería de Medio Ambiente, Junta de Andalucía
Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis Foundation,
Depto. de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Regional Government of Aragon
Municipal Council of Jumilla (Murcia)
University of Granada
University of Murcia
Polytechnic University of Cartagena

Organizing Committee

National coordinators:

France: Patrick de Weber
Italy: Gerardo Brancucci
Portugal: José Brilha
Spain: Enrique Díaz Martínez, Francisco Guillén Mondéjar

Secretariat

Asunción Alías Linares
Gregorio Romero Sánchez

Scientific Committee:

Artur Abreu Sá
Consuelo Arias
Félix Bellido
Juan C. Braga Alarcón
Luis Carcavilla Urquí
Cristina Giovagnoli
Cayetano Herrero
Emilio Herrero
Nadia Herrero Martínez
José Ignacio Manteca
Josep María Mata Perelló
Luis Nieto Albert
Diamantino Pereira
Félix Pérez Lorente
Ángel Salazar Rincón
Carlos de Santisteban Bové
Lorenzo Vilas Minondo

Scientific secretary: Guillermo Meléndez Hevia