The UNESCO Global Geoparks Council recently announced following their meeting in Indonesia that it has recommended the Black Country UNESCO Global Geopark bid be endorsed by the Executive Board of UNESCO when it meets in the spring.
Although the recommendation is no guarantee, the team behind the bid sees this as an extremely positive step forward in its efforts to secure this international status.
It was back in 2016, when the 4 Black Country authorities (Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton) with the backing of the UNESCO National Commission and the UK’s 7 existing geoparks submitted an application to become part of the UNESCO Global Geopark family.
There are many world class features in the Black Country and the geopark would link many different heritage sites and features across the area to tell the story of the landscape. In the case of the Black Country, the significant part it played in the industrial revolution is at the heart of the bid and the proposed UNESCO Global Geopark.
In 2017, after assessing the application, the UNESCO Global Geoparks Committee (UGGC) made a number of positive recommendations and gave the Black Country Geopark project a further 2 years to address their recommendations before resubmitting a final application.
The final decision will be made by the Executive Board of UNESCO when it meets in the spring.
City of Wolverhampton Council Director for Regeneration, Richard Lawrence, said: “It is fantastic to see the Black Country’s heritage receive this international backing.
“We have worked closely with our partnering local authorities to strengthen our application to become part of the UNESCO Global Geopark family.
“Securing UNESCO Global Geopark status will put the Black Country on the international map and there will be plenty of scope to attract more tourists to our region and boost the local visitor economy.”
To find out more about the project, people can go to Black Country Geopark, follow @BCgeopark on twitter or the Black Country Geopark Project on Facebook.
