CHARACTERISTIC OF JAPANESE GEOPARKS IN BOTTOM — UP MANAGEMENT; A REVIEW PAPER OF THE FIRST THREE UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARKS OF JAPAN

Abstract

Japanese Geoparks Network (JGN) in 2009 with seven regions as regular members, and in less than ten years JGN has registered 44 national geoparks. Japanese geoparks shows the strong linkage between the human settlements with the geologically active natural sites. Coexisting with natural disasters and active involvement of local residents in bottom-up management process and geotours promotion, are the main characteristics of Japanese Geoparks, which contributes for the regional sustainable development.