Geotourism and Geoparks: A New Strategy for Land Use Planning and Management within Watersheds

Tourism as an underlying economic activity is nowadays considered to be a vital part of the socio-economic programs in every nation. Thanks to its low investment requirements and high potential for job creation, it is more important than other economic sectors, especially in developing countries. Geotourism, defined as tourist attractions of geological and geomorphological phenomena in watersheds, offers a great potential for the tourism economy. The development of nature-based tourism serves a variety of functions for local communities and watershed residents that involve appropriate solutions to problems of livelihood and unemployment in such communities. In most cases, this socio-economic potential for land management in watersheds has been ignored, thereby failing to consider this valuable national wealth and natural heritage in the Iranian watersheds as a component of sustainable development. Indeed, recognition of the potential of geotourism realized in the form of geoparks in watersheds that enjoy a vast geological diversity can play a key role in land management in these areas. Once established, geoparks will embody the historical and cultural heritage of watersheds and will enhance the potential development of geotourism. Thus, economic or social justice in watersheds will be achieved through participation of local communities and stakeholders who market their local products including handicrafts as well as rangeland and forest products. These prospects will ultimately help land use planning and integrated watershed management in these areas. Geotourism is a new approach in watershed management from asocio-economic point of view which unfortunately despite UNESCOs emphasis has not been sufficiently considered by watershed experts. In this paper, the role of geotourism and geoparks on land use planning of watershed, tourism development as well as life and livelihood of watershed residents and socio-economic issues is investigated.