The main purpose of geoconservation is the conservation of geosites as basic units of the geological heritage through the implementation of specific inventory, evaluation, conservation, valuation and monitoring procedures. In this paper, geoconservation is characterised as an emergent geoscience within the Earth and Space Sciences where its scope and methods, as well as production and validation of knowledge can be recognised-thus defining Basic Geoconservation-, interrelations with other earth sciences can be established-thus supporting Applied Geoconservation-, and Technical Applications of Geoconservation can be identified through the production of materials, methods and/or scientific services useful to society, namely geoeducation. Promoting scientific education relevant to sustainable development requires new educational approaches involving the Earth Sciences, namely through geoconservation, in order to provide citizens with tools to face environmental problems, such as those arising from the depletion of geological resources-which seriously threaten the geological heritage of the Earth-and the information, skills and will make forward-looking choices, like supporting the legal protection of Natural Monuments and/or the implementation of geotourism (including geoparks).

Geodiversity-the abiotic component of nature-is subject to everyday individuals' choices. The use of some of its elements in geoparks-by fostering economic sustainable development of local communities through the promotion of geotourism and education-represents a successful path to global sustainability, as argued in detail in the present work. By connecting local actions and global challenges, and assuming the role of local culture as a crucial tool to achieve global sustainability, the UNESCO Global Geoparks can be envisaged as best practice examples of realizing the aims and goals of the International Year of Global Understanding and source of inspiration for other global challenges, such as the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals 2016−2030.

This paper shows how geological heritage

The detailed study of benthic foraminifera in 28 samples from Late Toarcian-Aalenian-Early Bajocian hemipelagic sediments of the Murtinheira section (Cabo Mondego, Lusitanian Basin, West Portugal), has permitted the recognition of the assemblage composition and the analysis of their evolution throughout this time interval. The representatives of the Suborder Lagenina dominate all the assemblages and, in the majority of them, the most abundant species is Lenticulina münsteri. The Late Toarcian and Early Aalenian assemblages are very similar. From the Comptum Subzone, a gradual replacement of the Early Jurassic forms by characteristic Middle Jurassic taxa takes place. During the Late Aalenian-Early Bajocian interval, a significant number of last occurrences (LOs) of taxa are recorded. The assemblages composition, the estimation of the relative taxa abundances and the data obtained from the calculation of several diversity indexes, together with the previous sedimentological and paleontological works in this area, indicate that these assemblages were developed in a shelfal basin environment. This platform showed normal marine salinity values, good oxygenation and was always located above calcite compensation depth (CCD). However, the environmental conditions were not always the best for the development of rich and diverse foraminiferal assemblages. These conditions were probably unstable during the Late Toarcian (Aalensis Subzone)-Early Aalenian (lower part of the Comptum Subzone). From the Comptum Subzone to the lower part of the Limitatum Subzone (Late Aalenian), conditions were more stable and more favourable for the development of foraminiferal communities. However, in the Aalenian-Bajocian transition the environmental conditions changed again and affected the development of this group. In the Limitatum Subzone a decrease in the diversity of the assemblages was recorded. This fact seems to be related to a global perturbation in the carbon-cycle that could have affected the foraminifera, together with other marine and continental organism groups.

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Abstract:In this work, it is argued that effective protection of geological objects displaying heritage value requires the local community's involvement in all geoconservation actions, i.e., inventory, evaluation, conservation, valuation and monitoring procedures, and not only at the final part of the process, when it is expected from local communities that the physical integrity of such objects is guaranteed. Community involvement in geoheritage inventory and evaluation procedures can be appraised by using a classification system that integrates both the geoheritage properties displayed by the geological objects and usually recognized by geoscientists (i.e., relevance grade) and the social role attributed to geological objects by communities outside Earth scientists that arise from the public perception of such objects (i.e., abstract perceptiveness). Using two case studies from southern Angola (Huíla Province) where both social and scientific OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 4894 components were taken into account in geoheritage evaluation procedures (Tundavala and Leba geosites), we propose a conceptual community-based model, which can be applicable to geoconservation purposes and actions in other African regions and converging with the main goals of the "African Alive Corridors" initiative.

thus promoting the conservation of the geological heritage of the Earth; (2) provide research facilities for geoscientists, thus contributing for enhancing knowledge concerning Earth Sciences; (3) ensure sustainable development, namely through geotourism; (4) educate and teach the general public about issues in geological landscapes and environmental matters, thus promoting the public understanding of geosciences (Eder and Patzak, 2004). The education of the public at large in matters concerning geological sciences and the environment is one of the major goals established by the European Geoparks Network (Zouros, 2004), assuming education in a wide sense, i.e., including "not only scientific explanations of geological features but also education on broader environmental issues and sustainable development" (Nowlan et al., 2004; p. 174). Most of the geoparks have their own educational programmes and publications, and provide, in the field of formal education, materials and services to school teachers (EGN, 2012a), but research focused on their role as a tool to provide educational opportunities for visitors is lacking, namely investigative approaches that seek to assess how geoparks can contribute to stimulate students to learn about Earth Sciences and to adopt, in their daily life, behaviors and attitudes that promote the valorization of the geological heritage of the Earth. Unlike many other countries in Europe (Fermeli et al., 2011), in Portugal the teaching of geology is a separate discipline in secondary school curricula. In the last 5 years record an increasing number of vacancies on Earth Sciences degrees available at Portuguese universities and institutes as a result of the increasing number of candidates (Henriques et al., 2010). This work reports the results of a research on science education which addresses the following questions: What are the student´s perceptions and ideas about geological heritage and geoparks? What can students learn about geology as a result of a field trip to a geopark? Can a field trip to a geopark influence student´s behaviors and attitudes concerning geoconservation? Does a field trip to a geopark stimulate student´s interest for visiting other geoparks? Can a field trip to a geopark contribute to motivate students for learning more about Earth Sciences? The research involved the conception, implementation and assessment of an educational intervention, based on fieldwork developed at the Arouca Geopark-one of the two Portuguese geoparks integrating the European and the Global Geopark Networks (EGN, 2012b, UNESCO, 2012), with 37 students (21 male, 16 female) of two 11 th grade classes (ages 16 to 18) of the Secondary School of Ponte de Sor (Central Portugal; Tomaz, 2011). The teacher´s