Geodiversity Action Plan

What is Geodiversity?

Geodiversity  is the term used to describe the natural assortment of rocks, fossils and minerals, together with geomorphological features such as types of landforms, mountains rivers, coasts, etc.  Also included are the physical processes creating these features, e.g. weathering, river and coastal erosion etc.  All these diverse features and processes produce the landforms and landscapes of the globe.  Soils are also part of geodiversity but poorly acknowledged – they will eventually become the rocks of tomorrow!

Geodiversity works hand in hand with biodiversity – the rocks, soils landforms and processes govern the type and style of fauna and flora within every landscape.  Geodiversity will produce different ranges of biodiversity and ecosystems.  Therefore the conservation of geodiversity is as important as biodiversity, but until recently has received a low priority in conservation programmes and as such lags behind in conservation.

Geodiversity and biodiversity are entwined and geoconservation is as important in natural systems as bioconservation. There's a link below to a short video narrated by Professor Iain Stewart.

Geology has joined biodiversity in the action planning process, with the production of the Geodiversity Action Plan (GAP) for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

There has been a need to bring together national and local geoconservation targets with a strategic approach to provide clear guidance for the future of Earth science conservation in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

 The GAP has adopted a similar approach to that taken by the successful Biodiversity Action Planning (BAP) process in Cornwall to:

• audit the local resource exploring the diversity of landscapes, rocks, soils and earth science skills available in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly

• evaluate the above and prioritise actions and develop targets, plans and strategies to ensure conservation of our Earth heritage and sustainable use of the local geological resource

• increase public awareness and appreciation of the landscape character and distinctiveness of the local area.

The GAP was produced in 2005 and is well past the time it should have been reviewed. CGG has recently gained a soil scientist - soils were identified as a major gap in the GAP so this can now be addressed.

Various actions have already been taken in line with the plan. Various aspects of geology where there was no designated sites now have sites. And most recently the development of an active Facebook page  has furthered the last aim, namely to "increase public awareness and appreciation of the landscape character and distinctiveness of the local area". The page currently (February 2025) has over 1200+  followers, 1200+ likes many posts are shared ... with one post reaching over 14k people.

Click on the links below to view the report for Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Geodiversity Action Plan 2005, and its summary.