On October 10th, 2019 Annual Conference of China UNESCO Global Geopark was held in Dunhuang. The annual meeting was co-sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, the National Geopark Network Center, the Dunhuang Municipal People's Government, and the Dunhuang World Geopark Administration. During the meeting, the opening ceremony of the annual meeting, the geological park management and construction seminars, and the global geological park exchanges were held.
Dunhuang World Geopark joined the UNESCO World Geopark Network in September 2015, becoming the first in Gansu and the 33rd in the World. Dunhuang World Geological Park consists of Yadan Scenic Area, Mingsha Mountain Yueya Spring Scenic Area, and Natural Landscape Tourist Area and Cultural Site Tourist Area, covering an area of 2,180.75 square kilometers.
Since being selected into the UNESCO World Geopark Network, Dunhuang has been adhering to the tenet of geological heritage protection, popularization of geosciences, and promoting sustainable economic development. It strictly follows the principle of “development in protection and protection in development” and continues to increase the foundation construction. The development of Dunhuang World Geopark has become a powerful driving force for the high-quality development of the economy and society. In August 2019, it ushered in the first mid-term evaluation in four years, and was highly praised by the evaluation experts Frei and Ali, which polished the business card of the World Geopark for Dunhuang.
It is understood that China is one of the countries with the richest resources, the most extensive distribution and the most complete types of geological heritage in the world. At present, it has officially named 217 national geological parks, granted 53 national geological parks, and approved the establishment of more than 300 provincial geological parks, forming a complete geological relic type, distributed in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and Hong Kong. At the same time, as one of the founding members of the World Geopark, China's 39 world geoparks rank first in the world's 147 world geoparks.