On December 7, the 2022 annual meeting of the China UNESCO Global Geopark was held in Xiangxi, Hunan province. The meeting, which was co-hosted by the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, the National Geoparks Network Center, the World Geoparks Network office and the Xiangxi United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Global Geoparks, will consist of both online and offline activities. All members of Leye-Fengshan Global Geopark attended the meeting.

The meeting is divided into three stages: the opening ceremony, the report section and the closing ceremony. At the meeting, participants exchanged ideas and shared experience around the theme“New situation of the Global Geoparks in Construction and development”.  In order to seek for solutions that can be repeated and promoted to meet the upcoming reevaluation, the MC (Management Committee) of Leye-fengshan global geopark organized all the cadres and workers to attend the meeting. They forged consensus on the idea of“sharing Experience , pooling ideas and developing together”and earnestly study the practical experience of the evaluation and re-evaluation shared by other geoparks and experts, idea of co-construction and sharing of Geoparks, means of the popularization and management. At the closing ceremony of the conference, Ma Yan, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, announced that the Yimeng Mountains Geopark will be the organizer of the 2023 China UNESCO Global Geopark Annual Conference. Long Xiaohua, the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture governor, handed over the annual convention flag to the Yimeng Mountains World Geopark at the ceremony.

The experience summarized and shared by the parks at this online meeting provides a valuable reference for other parks to learn and draw on, which are beneficial to the improvement of their“weak points”. The next step, Leye-fengshan Global Geopark will continue to communicate with strategic partners, universities, technical support teams, and parks at home and abroad. It will actively carry out various forms of communication and cooperation both online and offline. It will continue to learn from other parks, seek for deep cooperation, realize resource sharing, ensure the normal work during the epidemic, and find the sustainable development of the global geoparks.