Shennongjia Global Geopark Retains UNESCO Status with Green Card Until 2029

Shennongjia, Hubei – Shennongjia Global Geopark announced on the 30th that it has once again been awarded a "Green Card" in the UNESCO re-evaluation, extending its status as a global geopark until December 31, 2029, according to Xinhua News Agency reports.

Global geoparks, together with World Heritage Sites and World Biosphere Reserves, are hailed as the three flagship brands of UNESCO. Conducted every four years, the re-evaluation covers infrastructure construction, geological heritage protection, popular science education and other fields, serving as a crucial benchmark to test the construction and management level of geoparks. Shennongjia was included in the Global Geopark Network in 2013 and has successfully passed two re-evaluations in 2017 and 2025.

Known as a natural geological museum, Shennongjia Global Geopark has completely recorded 1.6 billion years of Earth’s evolution. It preserves the Mesoproterozoic "Shennongjia Group" standard stratigraphy, evidence of the Neoproterozoic "Snowball Earth" glacial period and large-scale thrust nappe structures. As one of the 14 key global biodiversity research areas, it also serves as a sanctuary for rare species such as Sichuan golden monkeys.

In recent years, the geopark has built an "air-space-ground integrated" monitoring network, combining satellite remote sensing, drone patrols and ground cameras to implement dynamic supervision over 148 geological heritage sites, including Guanmen Mountain stromatolites and Dajiuhu Wetland. Meanwhile, it has innovated the "ecological rangers + community co-construction" model, encouraging local residents to become guardians of the ecology with a total of 4,042 local residents employed as ecological rangers and information officers.

Furthermore, the park has established sister park relationships with 29 geoparks at home and abroad, actively participating in international conferences such as the Asia-Pacific Geopark Network Seminar and the International Geopark Conference. It also successfully hosted the "Belt and Road" International Academic Seminar on Ecological Security in 2024.

In pursuit of integrated development, Shennongjia has explored a path combining "geological popular science + ecological tourism + cultural experience". This approach has driven nearly 400 farmhouses around the park and more than 20,000 people to engage in tourism services, with an annual pulling effect of 1.2 billion yuan on the tourism economy. It has thus blazed a high-quality development path that balances geological heritage protection with green income growth for local communities, benefiting 75% of the local population directly.

With its unique geological and ecological value, Shennongjia Global Geopark not only demonstrates China’s efforts in ecological and cultural protection but also sets an example for the coordinated development of global geopark conservation and local community prosperity.