The geopark label a way to singling mountain areas in France ?

Résumé En

In France, five territories have already joined the Global Geoparks Network. They are all situated in mountain or in hilly rural areas. What are the motivations, the main goals that guided these areas to the Geopark approach ? On 17 November 2015, the 195 Member States of UNESCO ratified the creation of a new label, the UNESCO Global Geoparks. This label offers the opportunity to singling the territories in order to reinforce local identity but also to initiate new economical activities by managing outstanding geological sites and landscapes in a holistic manner.The underground Geotrail in the Massif des Bauges Geopark, the “Georoute“ in the Chablais Geopark, the landart disseminated in the Haute-Provence Geopark, the application Ochres by bike app in the Luberon Geopark or the partners network in the Ardèche Geopark are a few examples of the activities proposed in each french geopark.At the initiative of the local autorities, the professional stakeholders or the researchers, all these projects show that the geoheritage can bring together a lot of partners involved in a sustainable development of their territory not only for tourists but also for local inhabitants.We attempt to show how the local dynamics created by these projects impulse innovative ways of development based on the geoheritage.This work was supported by the LABEX ITEM (ANR-10-LABX-50-01) within the program « Investissements d’Avenir » operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR)