Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador sites were given international honours on Friday for their geohistorical significance.
The announcement came from a meeting of the UNESCO Global Geopark Executive Board in Paris, much to the delight of those who have been working for years on this project. 3:14
Two sites in Atlantic Canada have been recognized as new UNESCO Global Geoparks, a designation that recognizes sites and landscapes of international geological significance.
The Cliffs of Fundy Global Geopark in Nova Scotia stretches along a roughly 165-kilometre drive, with about 40 designated sites from Debert to the Three Sisters cliffs past Eatonville, out to Isle Haute. The area is the only place on Earth where geologists can see both the assembly of supercontinent Pangea 300 million years ago and its breakup 100 million years later.
The Discovery Global Geopark in Newfoundland and Labrador’s Bonavista Peninsula, a rugged coastline overlooking views of caves, arches and sea stacks, features fossils from what UNESCO describes “one of the most significant transitions in Earth’s history” — the rise of animal life.
The two parks are among 15 new Global Geoparks approved by UNESCO at meetings in Paris and announced on Friday.
“I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to visit these outstanding places,” said Nikolaos Zouros, president of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network, who came to visit both sites last year from his home in Lesvos Island, Greece.
“We collect pieces of information about this unique book of the story of our planet. These do not belong only to the people of Canada, but is an important piece of evidence for the whole of humanity.”
Cliffs of Fundy Geopark
While the announcement comes as a point of pride for those involved in Nova Scotia, it also signals the beginning of more work left to do to make sure the designation does what they want it to do — bring tourists to the area and boost the local economy.
“The beauty of the designation is that it immediately puts you on the world stage,” Beth Peterkin, manager of the Cliffs of Fundy Geopark. “It will let us reach audiences we could never, ever reach on our own.”
The New Brunswick side of the Bay of Fundy is already designated as the Stonehammer Geopark, located at the confluence of the Saint John and Kennebecasis rivers.
In Nova Scotia, Cumberland and Colchester counties brought together geologists, paleontologists, businesses, tourism operators, Indigenous communities and local people to bring the idea for a geopark to life.
This partnership is a first of its kind, said Christine Blair, mayor of the Municipality of the County of Colchester, and that teamwork is what made this idea into reality.
“To have two municipalities form an agreement, that has never happened in the history of the two municipalities before,” she said.
“To have all of the communities and our First Nation community in