French National Inventory of Geological Heritage. A Presentation.
Résumé
The oral paper will present and discuss results of the recent cataloguing of Geological Heritage sites, launched in France in 2007 in the frame of the National Inventory of Geological Heritage.
As stated by French law (2002), the Geological Heritage is part of the “Natural Heritage” of which humans are responsible. It
- groups all objects and sites bearing one or several symbolic dimension(s) for the Earth Memory on all scales from infra-microscopic, to life traces (fossils, habitats, mines…), rocks, minerals, geological structures, climate records, soil evolution, underground systems, and past to present landscapes .
- concerns natural sites of geological interest, as well as collections, objects, « geological curiosities »
- addresses scientific fields such as geodiversity, sedimentology, palaeontology, mineralogy, tectonics, geomorphology, landscapes etc.
As a result of these patrimonial, scientific, pedagogic and historic dimensions, geoheritage elements are prone to be catalogued (inventories) and, in some cases, to be protected.
The 2002 law makes the State responsible for organizing, animating and evaluating the inventory of natural heritage. Concerning the inventory of geologic, mineralogic and palaeontologic national richness, a specific methodology has been worked out by the National Bureau of Geology (MTA’s French equivalent). Implementation of the inventory is being implemented on the regional scale by connected groups of specialists and associations. After acceptance by the « Regional Scientific Council for Natural Heritage », the inventory is submitted for evaluation to the National Museum of Natural History (acting for the Ministry of Environment). Once accepted, the inventory is distributed to the public, also on internet. In France, several associations and groups of associations have criticized this open access of the national geological inventory , .
One of the aims of the inventory being to promote Geological Heritage in people’s mind and culture, the promotion uses books (eg. BRGM’s « Balades géologiques »), field excursions (also in urban contexts), applications for smartphones, tablets, virtual explorations… Within strict conditions, sites may be devoted to “geotourism” projects.