2010. Origins

The ProGEO SW Europe Working Group (referred then to as WG-4) was established in 2010, on the initiative of four countries: France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. 

The aims of WG-4 members are to know the situation of geoconservation in our countries, as well as to strengthen ties and explore possible ways of collaboration. 

Meetings 

2010 – The 1st meeting, Caravaca de la Cruz (Murcia, Spain), September 15-18th, 2010. It was a 2-day scientific session on geoconservation led by ProGEO [1], [2], [3]. 

2011 – The 2nd meeting, Lille (France), entitled ‘Geoconservation 20 years after the Digne conference: outcomes and challenges’. It was organised within the framework of the First GeoReg Forum dedicated to all geosciences in the region of France and neighbouring countries. 

2015 – The 3rd meeting, Toulouse (France), entitled ‘Geoheritage inventories: challenges, achievements and perspectives’. 

2022 – 1st ProGEO Virtual Conference on Geoconservation, March 30th-31st, 2022, Portugal [4]. This initiative was part of an innovative dynamic set up by the Portuguese ProGEO group that aims to have continuity in the future. Thirty-five oral papers attributable to 155 authors were presented at the conference, with 254 on-line connections registered during the two days of the conference. At the end of the sessions, a discussion on geosite inventories and geoconservation practices in the different countries was opened, starting from the 8 keynotes from the 4 countries involved. The aim was to find possible common paths among the countries. From the papers presented, 32 papers were submitted and peer-reviewed by the organising committee. Of these, 12 were published in ProGEO News and a further 20 are under review for publication in a Geoheritage Topical Collection entitled ‘Geoheritage in SW Europe: advances and challenges’ of which the conference organisers were guest editors [5].

2025 – 2nd ProGEO Virtual Conference on Geoconservation (2nd edition), March 30th-31st, 2025. Fully online event. Roma, Perugia; Italy. Organizing committee: Irene M. Bollati et al. Fully online event. 

 

Symposium

2021 – The global flagship event was the 10th International ProGEO Symposium ‘Building connections for global geoconservation’, 7-10th June 2021, Madrid, Spain ([6], [7]), organised by the Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME). The event took place in the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the global lock down. The Spanish Organising Committee and the ProGEO – in that time still being a European (non world-wide) association, decided to transform it into a fully online and totally free event. More than 400 attendees from 58 different countries took part in the online symposium. A total number of 147 abstracts were submitted and these were included in 7 scientific sessions. Online sessions were transmitted through the X ProGEO 2021 YouTube channel.

The symposium was hosting the following meetings:

• International Commission on Geoheritage of International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) Meeting,

• 2nd Workshop of the IUCN WCPA Geoheritage Specialist Group (GSG),

• 4th Meeting of ProGEO SW European Working Group,

• 9th Meeting of ProGEO SE European Working Group (WG-1),

• 1st Workshop of EuroGeoSurveys Geoheritage Expert Group (EGS GhEG),

• And a meeting of the Geoheritage Commission of the Association of Iberoamerican Geological and Mining Surveys (ASGMI).

At the General Assembly, which was held (online) after the Symposium, the decision was approved to convert ProGEO into the global International Association for the Conservation of Geological Heritage. The new board of ProGEO was elected. 

 

22nd March 2025

Description made by Manu Monge Ganuzas and Enrique Díaz Martínez. 

References 

[1] ProGEO News, 4, 2010

[2] https://www.ugr.es/~mlamolda/congresos/geoevents/procontr.html

[3] https://www.ugr.es/~mlamolda/congresos/geoevents/poster.html

[4] ProGEO SW Europe Regional Working Group Virtual Conference on Geoconservation, March 30th-31st, 2022, Abstract Book. P. Pereira, M. Monge Ganuzas, I.M. Bollati, I. Rouget (Eds.). University of Minho, Portugal, 2022, 111 pp.

[5] Geoheritage Topical Collection ‘Geoheritage in SW Europe: advances and challenges’, 2024.

[6] ProGEO News, 2, 2021. https://www.igme.es/patrimonio/xprogeo2021/default.html

[7] Building connections for global conservation. 10th International ProGEO online Symposium, 7th-10th June, 2021, Spain, Abstract Book. G. Lozano, J. Luengo, A.M. Cabrera, J. Vegas (Eds.). Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME-CSIC), Madrid, 2021, v, [x], pp. 1-282. ISBN 978-84-9138-112-9. https://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/273501

​