1995. Origins 

In 1995 upon the initiative of the Bulgarian colleagues, the Southeastern European countries accepted the idea of the foundation of a working group, the first one in the ProGEO Association. The SE Europe Working Group (referred then to as ProGEO WG-1) was established at the First Subregional Meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, and formalised with a Declaration and Resolution signed on May 12th 1995 in Bansko. 

 

The initiator and the first Coordinator of the WG-1 was Prof. Dr. Ivan Zagorchev (Geological Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Science).

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The co-founders and first national ProGEO national representatives in 1995 were:

Prof. Afat Serjani (Albania), Prof. Ivan Zagorchev (Bulgaria), Prof. Ilias Mariolakos (Greece), Sokol Klincharov (Macedonia), Prof. Dan Grigorescu (Romania), Dr. M. Stolar (Slovakia), Prof. Rajko Pavlovec and Dr. Branka Hlad (Slovenia), Prof. Dragan Milovanovic and Dr. Dušan Mijović (Serbia and Montenegro).

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The following countries joined in later years: Croatia (1996), Türkiye (1998), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2001), Hungary (2005) and Kosovo (officially in 2012).

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In June 1995, at the ProGEO Meeting in Sigtuna, Sweden, WG-1 was approved by the General Assembly of ProGEO. For that occasion, President Carl Erik Johanssen took the WG-1 as a good example and pointed out how important it is to form and operate regional ProGEO groups. Since then, WG-1 has been the most active regional group.

Regional meetings

1995 – Sofia (Bulgaria), ''Conservation of the Geological Heritage in South-Eastern Europe''. 

1996 – Bulgaria, Business meeting of WG1 national representatives.

1998 – Belogradchik, Bulgaria. Meeting of the Regional Group "Geological Heritage of Europe".

2000 – Izmir (Türkiye), International Earth Sciences Colloquium in the Aegean region (IESCA). 

2001 – Athens (Greece), Workshop during the 8th Congress of the Geological Society of Greece. 

2002 – Ankara (Türkiye), Annual Meeting with excursion. Organised in MTA by Nizamettin Kazancı. 

2003 – Bucharest (Romania): Annual meeting organized by Dan Grigorescu and Alexandru Andrăşanu. 

2004 – Belgrade (Serbia), Annual Meeting with excursion organized by Dušan Mijović. 

2005 – Tirana (Albania), “Ten years of geological heritage conservation in SE Europe”, WG-1 subregional meeting and field trips.

2006 – Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), WG1 Annual Meeting organized by national representative Galiba Sijarić. 

2007 – Ljubljana (Slovenia), Geological Heritage in South-Eastern Europe. The 12th Regional Conference and ProGEO WG1 Annual Meeting. Organized by national representative Branka Hlad.

2008 – Rab Island (Croatia), The 5th International ProGEO Symposium on Conservation of the Geological Heritage and ProGEO WG-1 Annual Meeting organized by ProGEO-Croatia NGO.

2010 – Elazig (Türkiye), The 1st International Geoconservation Symposium and ProGEO WG1 Meeting organized by Rector of the Firat University Ahmet Bingol and Nizamettin Kazancı. 

2017 – Ankara (Türkiye), WG-1 Meeting under the scope of the 70th International Geological Congress of Türkiye.

2021 —9th Meeting of ProGEO SE European Working Group (WG-1) (online) under the scope of the 10th International ProGEO Symposium on Conservation of Geoheritage, Madrid, Spain. 

2022 – Rab Island (Croatia), WG-1 meeting in the scope of the 1st International Symposium “Geopark and Sciences – From research to geotourism” organized by ProGEO-Croatia as an event of the IGCP 737 SMART Project.

2022 – Novigrad (Croatia): IGCP 737 SMART Project Workshop for the WG-1 members organized by the project leader Ljerka Marjanac.

2023 – Ankara (Türkiye): Special session “Cultural Geology, Geological Heritage and Geotourism” in the scope of 75th Geological Congress of Türkiye organized by Nizamettin Kazancı, Nazire Ozgen Erdem, Atike Nazik and Ljerka Marjanac.

2023 – Hungary: 1st Online ProGEO Seminar on Geodiversity and Geoheritage. Organized by the Hungarian ProGEO section.

2024 – Ankara (Türkiye): Special session “Cultural Geology, Geological Heritage and Geotourism” in the scope of 76th Geological Congress of Türkiye organized by Nizamettin Kazancı, Nazire Ozgen Erdem, Atike Nazik and Ljerka Marjanac.

2025 – Ankara (Türkiye): 77th Geological Congress of Türkiye, April 14-18, 2025; scientific session “Cultural Geology, Geological Heritage and Geotourism” organized by local ProGEO Jeolojik Mirası Koruma Derneği – JeMirKo. 

2025 – Tulcea (Romania): XIIth International ProGEO Symposium 30 Sept – 02 Oct 2025, https://progeo2025.com/

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Symposium​

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2025 – 12th ProGEO International Symposium, 30th Sept-2nd October 2025, Tulcea, Romania

Projects

2021 – 2022: UNESCO IGCP Project 737 „Smart Geology for Better Community – Integrating geological heritage of the southeast European countries into sustainable development strategies”. Leader Ljerka Marjanac, with 12 national groups of WG-1.

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21.03.2025. 

The description is based on the unpublished paper of Afat Serjani “History of WG-1”, it was compiled by Ljerka Marjanac in consultation with the WG-1 national representatives. 

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References

 

“Geological Heritage of Europe” dedicated to the memory of George P. Black the 1st ProGEO President. I. Zagorchev & R. Nakov (Eds). Geologica Balcanica Special Issue, 28 (3-4). Sofia, 1998, pp. 1 − 182. 

Proceedings of the 5th International ProGEO Symposium on Conservation of the Geological Heritage and ProGEO Working Group 1st Annual Meeting, 1st-5th October, 2008, Rab Island, Croatia. 2008. ProGEO – Croatia, Zagreb, 2008, pp. 1-112 ISBN 953-6076-16-0

For other references see menu “History” on the website main front page

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