Informed Geoheritage Conservation: Determinant Analysis Based on Bibliometric and Sustainability Indicators Using Ordination Techniques

Abstract

Ordination methods are used in ecological multivariate statistics in order to reduce the number of dimensions and arrange individual variables along environmental variables. Geoheritage designation is a new challenge for conservation planning. Quantification of geoheritage to date is used explicitly for site selection, however, it also carries significant potential to be one of the indicators of sustainable development that is delivered through geosystem services. In order to achieve such a dominant position, geoheritage needs to be included in the business as usual model of conservation planning. Questions about the quantification process that have typically been addressed in geoheritage studies can be answered more directly by their relationships to world development indicators. We aim to relate the major informative geoheritage practices to underlying trends of successful geoheritage implementation through statistical analysis of countries with the highest trackable geoheritage interest. Correspondence analysis (CA) was used to obtain information on how certain indicators bundle together. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was used to detect sets of factors to determine positive geoheritage conservation outcomes. The analysis resulted in ordination diagrams that visualize correlations among determinant variables translated to links between socio-economic background and geoheritage conservation outcomes. Indicators derived from geoheritage-related academic activity and world development metrics show a shift from significant Earth science output toward disciplines of strong international agreement such as tourism, sustainability and biodiversity. Identifying contributing factors to conservation-related decisions helps experts to tailor their proposals for required evidence-based quantification reports and reinforce the scientific significance of geoheritage.

Heritage Value and Stakeholders’ Perception of Four Geomorphological Landscapes in Southern Iceland

“…As the concept of geomorphological landscape has not been used much in the literature, no formalized method exists to assess its heritage value at its specific scale. However, many methods that have been developed to assess the heritage value of geosites (Brilha 2016;Mucivuna et al 2019;Németh et al 2021) and they can be used to assess geomorphological landscapes, as the latter constitute a category of geomorphosites. Most methods distinguish three groups of values (Coratza and Hobléa 2018): (1) geoscientific value, assessed quantitatively according to criteria of integrity, representativeness, rarity and paleogeographic interest (Grandgirard 1997a), (2) additional values (aesthetic, ecological, cultural, socioeconomic) and (3) use values, such as accessibility, visibility, visit conditions, educational interest and protection status.…”

Defining the Balearic Islands’ Tourism Data Space: An Approach to Functional and Data Requirements

“…Each type of data carries different information and addresses different tourism issues. Cluster 1 (red) represents the backbone of the tourism industry with terms such as "management" [65,66], "hospitality" [67,68], "impact" [69], "satisfaction", "social media", "customer satisfaction" [70], and "hotel". These terms suggest that much of the existing tourism bibliometric research focuses on hospitality management and impact assessment [71].…”

Evaluation of Ecological Niches for Economic-socio-natural Complex Ecosystem: A Literature Review

“…It promotes a better understanding of complex phenomena and provides a common reference for different stakeholders with different concerns. However, the measurement of these indicators remains difficult and there are substantial challenges in developing a system of sustainability indicators on society [32].…”