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Apart from "traditional" programmes, like UNESCO-IUGS's "International Geoscience Programme" (IGCP), and other geo-research oriented programmes (e.g. ICDP, IODP, ILP), notably the recently established initiative of UNESCO's Global Network of National Geoparks contributes remarkably to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005 - 2014).
National Geoparks are as such excellent instruments in highlighting Earth sciences. Geoparks, notably those included in the European and/or Global Geoparks Networks, contribute to local or regional socio-economic sustainable development - mainly by geotourism - and are providing an international platform of cooperation and exchange between experts and practitioners in geological heritage matters. The general goal of Geoparks to integrate the preservation of geological heritage into a strategy for regional sustainable economic and cultural development serves ideally the overall objective of the UN "International Year of Planet Earth" (2008) with its subtitle "Earth Sciences for Society".
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