1995 –2010. Origins and meetings 

The Central Europe WG (WG-2) was established in 1995 on the initiative of Professor Zofia Alexandrowicz (Kraków), who was the first Chair of the group in the period of 1995 – 2010. She was also the national representative and a member of the ProGEO Council.

In that time two international conferences of WG-2 were held, in 1997 and 2003, in Kraków, co-organized by the Institute of Nature Conservation of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Kraków) and the National Geological Institute (Warsaw).

The topics of the conference in 1997 were the selection, valorisation and methods of protection of important geological sites in Central European countries. The programme included a session and two field excursions, including the Ojców National Park, the Bonarka Geological Reserve and the Wieliczka Salt Mine — UNESCO World Heritage Site. A total of 60 people participated in the conference, including those from England, Sweden, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. The Proceedings were published [1].

The topics of the conference in 2003 included preliminary designs for geoparks in Poland and the spatial relationships between geoconservation and the Natura 2000 ecological network. There was a session and a one-day excursion to the Carpathian Foothills. The conference was attended by about 100 people, including about 20 people from outside Poland (England, Italy, Czech Republic, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria). Two volumes of the conference proceedings have been issued [2], [3].

In between the two above-mentioned international conferences, two international ProGEO meetings were held: 

• In Prague: “European Association for the Conservation of the Geological Heritage ProGEO 1st Annual Meeting, Prague, 1st - 9th June 2000”,

• In Kiev, Ukraine (2006): “Safeguarding our Geological Heritage. European Protection Policies of the Geological Heritage – Theory and Practise”. 

Furthermore, the concepts and status of geoconservation have been presented by members of CE WG at all international ProGEO symposia and several regional group conferences in Europe. 

Period after 2010. Symposium. 

Following the resignation of Prof. Zofia Alexandrowicz as Coordinator of the Central Europe Working Group in 2010, the activities of WG-2 have been mostly focused on the geoconservation situation in their own countries. However, the spirit of integration and cooperation was renewed in 2018 when the 9th International ProGEO Symposium ‘Geoheritage and Geoconservation: Modern Approaches and Applications towards 2030 Agenda’' was organised in Chęciny, Poland. A total number of 117 participants from 25 countries, from Europe and beyond, took part in the Symposium [4]. Abstracts were submitted by members from almost all WG-2 countries, although some were unable to attend in person. 

The programme included 3 days of sessions, a workshop and two 2-day field trips to the most important geoheritage sites and geological landscapes of southern Poland: The Krakow Uplands, the Carpathian Foothills and the Holy Cross Mountains (Świętokrzyskie) region. The Declaration of Chęciny was issued. A General Assembly was held. The Symposium Proceedings have been published in two volumes [5], [6]. The papers presented at the symposium were published in the Topical Collection of the journal Geoheritage [7].

Except of this flag event, members of the CE WG have been actively participating in all international ProGEO symposia: Reykjavík, Iceland (2015); Madrid, Spain (2021); and Loughborough, UK (2023), as well as in the European Geosciences Union conferences. They actively participated in the initiative to establish an International Day of Geodiversity under the auspices of UNESCO (2020 – 2021). They give lectures and online seminars (for example, Budapest 2023). They actively publish in indexed journals. In addition, CE WG members play an active role in the ProGEO Executive Committee.

05. 03. 2024.

The description was made by Ewa Głowniak, based on the private correspondence with Zofia Alexandrowicz (27.01.2017), and reviewed by Petr Budil, Jan Urban, Volodymyr Grytsenko and Volodymyr Manyuk. 

References

[1] Representative Geosites of Central Europe. Proceedings of the Central Europe Working Group, Workshop ProGEO᾿97. Z. Alexandrowicz (Ed.). Polish Geological Institute Special Papers, 2. Warsaw, 1999, pp. 1-103. 

[2] Geological Heritage Concept, Conservation and Protection Policy in Central Europe. Abstracts and field trip guidebook. A. Ber and Z. Alexandrowicz (Eds.). Polish Geological Institute, Centre of Excellence REA. Warsaw, 2003, pp. 1 – 95. 

[3] Proceedings of the Conference “Geological Heritage Concept, Conservation and Protection Policy in Central Europe”. A. Ber, Z. Alexandrowicz and P. Balabanis (Eds.). Polish Geological Institute Special Papers, 13. Warsaw, 2004, pp 1-212.

[4] Głowniak, E. 2019. The 9th ProGEO Symposium, Chęciny, Poland, 2018—an Overview. Geoheritage 11(4), 1221–1225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371–019–00421–x

[5] Geoheritage and Conservation: Modern Approaches and Applications Towards the 2030 Agenda. 9th ProGEO Symposium, Chęciny, Poland, 25–28th June, 2018, Programme and Abstract Book. E. Głowniak, A. Wasiłowska and P. Leonowicz (Eds.). Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw, 2018, 189 pp. ISBN 978–83–945216–6–0.

[6.] Geoheritage and Conservation: Modern Approaches and Applications Towards the 2030 Agenda. Field Trip Guidebook of the 9th ProGEO Symposium, Chęciny, Poland, 25–28th June 2018. E. Głowniak and A. Wasiłowska (Eds.). Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw, 2018, 91 pp. ISBN 978–83–945216–7–7 

[7] Topical collection “Geoheritage and Conservation: Modern Approaches and Applications Towards the 2030 Agenda, IX ProGEO Symposium, Poland, 25-28th June, 2018”. E. Głowniak (Guest Editor). 2019-2021. ISSN: 1867–2477 (Print) 1867–2485 (Online) — Collection of 24 post-symposium papers (available online and continue to appear in the few printed volumes of Geoheritage 2019-2021) (https://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12371?tabName=topicalCollections)