UNESCO SITE DESIGNATIONS

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UNESCO, the United Nations organization for education, science, and culture, designates areas with special and valuable natural and/or cultural heritage worldwide. First, in 1971, the establishment of Biosphere Reserves (Man and Biosphere Reserves) was approved. This was followed by the World Heritage List in 1972. It took many years before the geological aspect of natural heritage achieved the same type of designation, which occurred in 2015 through the establishment of UNESCO Global Geoparks.