Bashkiria has developed draft law regulating geoparks activities

In Ufa, they considered the draft law "On Geoparks in the Republic of Bashkortostan", introduced by the Government RB within the framework of the Committee of the State Assembly - the Kurultay of the Republic of Bashkortostan on Industry, Innovative Development, Trade, Entrepreneurship and Tourism.

The Acting Chairman of the State Committee for Tourism Rinat Fatkullin made a report on the adoption of the bill. He said that the bill consolidates the concept of "geopark", regulates the procedure for creating geoparks in the republic and approving their borders, provides for the implementation of state support for the development of geoparks in the Republic of Bashkortostan and their management, and also establishes a number of main tasks and activities for the development of geoparks in Bashkiria.

The activity of geoparks is regulated by law neither at the federal level nor at the level of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In this regard, the developed draft law "On Geoparks in the Republic of Bashkortostan" is a pilot one and makes it possible for the effective development of geoparks within the framework of the legislative field of the Russian Federation.

The text of the bill can be found at this link.

In 2004, a union of 17 European and 8 Chinese geoparks with the support of UNESCO created the Global Geoparks Network, which currently includes 169 geoparks from 48 countries. On July 7, 2020, the Yangan-Tau Geopark was the first in Russia and the post-Soviet space to receive international recognition and is included in the list of UNESCO Global Geoparks. The second contender for inclusion in this network is the Toratau Geopark, which in 2021 was included in the list of 16 potential territories. A meeting of the Council of UNESCO Global Geoparks to review applications from candidate territories and make a decision on them is scheduled for the end of 2022.