Environmental Pollution in Geopark Management: A Systematic Review of the Literary Evidence.

Dozens of geoparks have been created in the world since the beginning of the 21st century. Their environmental impact is yet to be fully understood. A bibliographical survey was undertaken to systematically review the journal articles devoted to environmental pollution in geoparks. The considered literature focuses on 10 geoparks (many of them are the members of the UNESCO Global Geoparks network) from eight countries, namely, China, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, and South Korea. Significant pollution was registered in half of these geoparks. Trace metals and metalloids such as arsenic and cadmium are often reported as pollutants. Water pollution is the most common. In many cases, environmental pollution is not related to geoparks, but results from agricultural and industrial activities. Sometimes, this pollution is inherited from past mining activities, and the latter are related to the geoheritage represented in the geoparks. However, there are also examples of pollution triggered by tourist activities in geoparks and the related infrastructural failures. Various mitigation approaches are considered in the literature (establishing monitoring networks, installing filtration membranes, etc.). It is argued that environmental pollution can be used in geoparks for eco-education and eco-awareness initiatives. Research in environmental pollution in geoparks is an emerging field, and does not avoid multiple biases. Nonetheless, the actual importance of this research is undisputable, and it will be demanded in the future.

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining, meandering tropical rivers, and geological heritage: Evidence from Brazil and Indonesia.

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) flourishes along many tropical rivers, and it still requires proper documentation in many countries, as well as interpretation in terms of rational resource exploitation and wildlife preservation. In this study we used remote sensing techniques to analyze two representative examples of ASGM: one along the Marupa River in Brazil (Tapajós Domain) and another one along the Kahayan River in Indonesia (Central Kalimantan). The documented spatial extent of ASGM is ~9175 km2 along the Marupa River and ~30,427 km2 along the Kahayan River. It was established these activities change rapidly (2-3 years) in space. Although active and inactive sites occur in both areas, a great number of inactive sites distinguish the Marupa River. It is very crucial that ASGM along the Marupa and Kahayan rivers link strongly to watercourse meanders, but also changes river valley morphology. This is an interesting evidence of coupled fluvial-anthropic morphodynamics of meandering river valleys. Geological phenomena represented in the study areas include gold resource exploitation (economic phenomenon), landforms and their dynamics (geomorphological phenomenon), and mercury environmental pollution (geochemical phenomenon). Due to remarkable spatial extent and evident interconnection, these phenomena seem to be unique and, thus, constituting geological heritage. Identification of the latter means that ASGM sites add value to the local environment. A paradox is that illegal and mercury-releasing ASGM needs termination, but such an action will result in the loss of the noted geological heritage value. Solution to this paradox requires careful development of plans for local management. However, it is clear that the presence of the noted heritage requires turning more attention to ASGM and their natural (river valley) context.