TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA) – For World Tourism Month, Bohol Tourism Office (BTO) rounded up schools and colleges offering tourism and hospitality courses to spread out the Green Investment Symposia and information drive, especially now that Bohol is designated as part of its network of United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) geo-parks.
This is according to BTO Officer in Charge Joanne Pinat, during the recent Kapihan sa PIA, set for the Tourism Month Celebration.
It may be recalled that last May 24, the UNESCO, in its assembly in Paris, adopted a resolution initiating the whole of Bohol into the network of 195 geo-parks across 48 countries.
Bohol as a geopark happens to be the largest geopark in Asia, and the first in the Philippines.
With the declaration, Bohol Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado said the whole concept of the geo-park should be understood and imbibed by the Boholanos.
A UNESCO Global Geopark is defined as an area where sites and landscapes of international geological, historical, cultural and scientific significance are managed by a holistic approach – combining conservation, education, research, and sustainable development.
The idea of sustainable development and environmental conservation however is nothing new to Boholanos who crafted the Bohol vision, mission and goals in the late 1990, envisioning as a prime eco-cultural tourism destination and gives a premium to the environment to preserve and conserve its tourism sites and destinations.
For the conferment of the designation that would necessarily make the whole of Bohol as a living laboratory for researchers in geology and geological formations as well as how its culture and heritage survived through, Pinat pointed out that the geo-park designation is telling us we have been going in the right direction.
“We are going in the right direction, as the geopark [designation], it gives us the stamp, as an ISO brand, it puts a value to what we have been doing since the 1990s, when we aimed at sustainability of the destination,” Pinat said, during the online guesting aired live over PIA Bohol facebook and you tube channels.
“We could not be given this prestigious designation if we did not do those sustainability efforts in the protection and conservation of these sites and wonders,” she added.
However, initiation in the geopark networks is not a perpetual membership.
According to Board Member Tita Baja, after four years, a UNESCO team would come to Bohol to check on the status of the protection, conservation and sustainability of the sites to see how these are being managed for the future generations.
Should a geopark lose its focus on maintaining its sustainable management practices, it could be delisted, she hinted during a privilege speech at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
To this, Pinat, who heads the top tourism promotions office at the Capitol said, “all the more we have to be enthusiastic at sustaining our activities as we have been defending and protecting our sites.”
And because, geoparks are not just for Boholanos but for the whole world as well.
Because of this too, the BTO, and the Provincial Government has partnered with the Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education, to bring the concept of preservation and promotion of geoscience to the communities to strengthen the appreciation for geoheritage, and thus cause its protection, preservation and protection.
For this, the Green Investment Symposia works.
PInat also calls for everyone to unite and help, as the geoparks designation’s main goal is protection and conservation of the natural resources, and then the promotion of the destination which leads to socio economic benefits of the communities.
For this, she believes an active involvement by the community, it’s everyone’s responsibility and contribution to the geo parks. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)
