GGN - Geopark Annual Report 2020
1. GEOPARK IDENTITY
Izu Peninsula UNESCO Global Geopark, (Japan, 2018, APGN)Year of inscription / Year of the last revalidation: 2018/ -Top page imagery of 360-degree virtual geosite tour on the web
2. GEOPARK FIGURES
Number of Geopark staffs: 10 staffs including 3 geoscientists
Number of visitors: 5926 (Geopark museum visitors)
Number of Geopark events: 91
Number of school classes realize Geopark educational programs: 112
Number of Geopark press release: 76

3. GEOPARK ACTIVITIES
Major achievements in 2020
Under the Covid-19 pandemic circumstance, 360-degree virtual tours of the representative
geosites have been provided through the special page of the web site in the context ofenhancing remote tours and prospective tourists of the World after.

Providing 360-degree full “walk-around” tours with zoomable photographs of the geopark
museum at the web site.

Trial creation of the several remote tour packages visiting the major sites in the territory.

Organizing skill-up training courses for certified geoguides

Organizing variety of workshops regularly for kids and local people at the museum intending
rediscovering our own area, which were provided by both in-situ and remote.

Organizing two “GEO Café” events for geopark popularization and were live-streamed
through youtube channel. The theme of one event deals with a thermophile bacteria, whichwere first detected from the boiling water of the natural hot spring in the territory, is an
essential agent for amplification of gene sequences for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.
The event exerted a great impact under the pandemic situation.

Organizing of the geopark knowledge certification tests for the aim of stimulating peoples’
concern on the geopark.

Special exhibition “The Izu Peninsula: a lesson from the past tsunamis” at the geopark
museum in connection with the decadal memorial of the East Japan Great Earthquake.

Public workshop in line with the above-mentioned tsunami and the Memorial Day. AnIndonesian sister geopark experiences were shared by live interview.

Contribution towards GGN - Networking and participation
Participation in the all GGN digital forums.

Participation in the Digital Course on UNESCO Global Geoparks.

Participation on the virtual geotourism festival hosted by the Rinjani-Lombok UGGp andpresented a case study in Izu.

Izu Peninsula’s representative rocks (hexagonal pillar and scoria) were offered to overseas
UGGps intending exhibitions at their museum or visitor centre.

Nominations of two scientists for evaluation missions of an aspiring geopark and for arevalidation of a geopark but postponed.

Management and Financial Status


Financial status of the geopark is stable with its operating budget for FY2020 which totals atJPY ca.71,000,000.

Geoconservation
Geopark sites regular patrol by rangers. Damaged areas were maintained considering theirlandscape, and set effective caution notices with local municipalities.

Upgrading and building additional interpretation panels at the geosites and the cultural sites
together with local organizations.

Regular participation in the cleanings of illegal scrappage at a territory’s valley.

Sustainable tourism (Geotourism)

Implementing the on-site regular guided tour which do not require advanced booking. They
are; a boat tour for coastal geosite, a gold mine tour, cape tour, and a waterfall tour.

Implementing new routes development of visiting geosites using “E-bike” in the context ofsustainable tourism and micro tourism.

54 geo-tours have been operated by geoguides with the total participants exceeds 11,000.
The total number was drastically decreased year-over-year.

New education programs on geoconservation, sustainable development and disaster riskreduction


Totally 112 geopark educational programs were provided for 66 schools in the territory. Their
practices were shared through the specific newsletters and the newly published textbook.

A DVD entitled “Tracing Izu Peninsula” was created, which provides a comprehensive
overview of the Izu Peninsula based the essay “An Introduction to Izu” by Yasunari Kawabata,
a literature Nobel laureate. The DVD is circulated to all the schools in order to support local
area studies. Everybody can borrow from local libraries too.

High school students made geopark introduction stories stating “GEO TRAIN” runs at apartner local railway company.

Strategic partnership
The Geopark Promotion Council concluded a cooperative agreement with a local gascooperation. It aims to achieve the SDGs. The cooperative bimensal workshops focus on
local products. The 2020 theme wasabi, Japanese horseradish, attract local people attention.

Temporal exhibition on the architectural material rocks at a World Cultural Heritage
designated site, which locates in the territory, was held intending synergy of the two different
UNESCO statuses.

Renewal of the exhibition at the museum for introducing a sister geopark.

Promotional activities


Numerous radio-TV and newspapers interviews and articles on the Geopark’s initiatives inthe national, regional and local media.

Publishing a totally revised geopark guidebook.

Spreading geopark information using social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube)

4. CONTACTS
Manager: Prof. Dr. Katsuhiko Asahi
Geologist: Mr. Daisuke Endok.asahi@izugeopark.org

d.endo@izugeopark.org