2022. Origins 

The Latin American and Caribbean Working Group (WG-LAC) emerged in November 2022, following the decision of the General Assembly in 2021 to rename ProGEO to "International” association in the sense of worldwide. The founders of WG-LAC were five ProGEO members: Camilo Vergara Daskam — Chile, Juan Esteban Quintero — Colombia, Maria da Glória Motta Garcia — Brazil, Mauricio Faraone — Uruguay and Tomás Martínez Ortega — Chile who formed the Provisional ProGEO WG-LAC Commission. To build a database of individuals interested in joining this new network, a trilingual online form was distributed across the region, gathering nearly 230 responses (64.5% in Portuguese, 34.6% in Spanish, and 0.9% in English). Thanks to the decisive action of the Provisional ProGEO WG-LAC Commission, the number of members grew to 27 in the first two years of WG-LAC's existence, demonstrating the great scientific potential in the field of geoconservation in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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2023 – 2024. International Workshops 

 

Four workshops of international importance have been organised to integrate the emerging Latin American and Caribbean Working Group in 2023 and 2024.

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April 26th, 2023. The first joint online workshop was held on that day: “ProGEO Latin American and Caribbean Regional Group Workshop”. It was attended by approximately 200 people from this region, representing various countries and institutions. 

The aim was to present ProGEO and its contribution to geoconservation, to set a scenario of the functioning of the already existing regional groups and discuss the integration with other organisations, such as IUCN and IUGS. The second part was dedicated to presentations from different countries in WG-LAC in order to build a regional panorama regarding geoconservation actions. 

Invited talks were given by Ewa Głowniak (ProGEO Executive Secretary; University of Warsaw, Poland), Manu Monge Ganuzas (ProGEO Vice President, Basque Government, Spain) and José Brilha (ProGEO past President; University of Braga, Portugal). Participants gave several dozen presentations. The entire event lasted 6 hours in total.

The event was broadcast live via YouTube channel of the Brazilian Association for the Defense of Geological and Mining Heritage (AGeoBR): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu_jEb6fsyw

 

October 31st, 2023. The online workshop “Geological Heritage Map of South America” attracted dozens of listeners.  

Invited talks were given by Maria da Glória Motta Garcia (Brazil) and Carlos Schobbenhaus (Geological Survey of Brazil) - both talks were in Portuguese with Spanish subtitles. 

The event was transmitted by YouTube channel of the AGeoBR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhxvCvsG3e0&list=PLdqZRLFj_yRvmpvoRz_sPIZTQrYaxV4gS

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June 7th, 2024. To commemorate the World Environment Day a Workshop on Participatory Geoconservation in the Latin American and Caribbean region was held online. The idea of the event was to present case studies of conservation of geological sites with the participation of communities, and holistically including the integration of biodiversity and geodiversity.

The event featured speakers from Mexico, Chile and Brazil, and attendees from across the LAC region. 

The workshop was broadcast on the YouTube channel of the AGeoBR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T97T_IhkB8

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8th October and 12th November 2024. Two workshops under a common title “IUGS Geological Sites in LAC” took place. Each one was dedicated to presenting the sites published in each volume of the IUGS book: (1) “The First 100”, October 8, 2024 and (2) “The Second 100”, November 12, 2024. 

The key lecture was given by Asier Hilario – Chair of the Executive Committee of the International Commission on Geoheritage (ICG). 

The workshops were broadcast on the YouTube channel of AGeoBR: https://www.youtube.com/live/2rGWjU5KnZg and https://tinyurl.com/tzh73p54.

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2024 – 2025. Other activities and future plans

 

WG-LAC members and non-members from Latin America actively participated in the XIth International ProGEO Symposium in Loughborough-Charnwood Forest, UK. Academic people and postgraduate  students were present.  Participation in the symposium resulted in an increase in the number of ProGEO members and increased interest in the UNESCO programme on geodiversity and geoheritage. Two projects for a UNESCO Chair have been (2024) or will be soon (2025) submitted.

Of great importance for the international image of WG-LAC as well as for ProGEO as a global organisation, was the participation of Prof. Maria da Glória Motta Garcia in the delegation of tutors to the 37th International Geological Congress, Busan, Korea, in August 2024 https://www.igc2024korea.org/content/14303. ProGEO delegation led two full day sessions: ‘Geoconservation and Geoheritage: geodiversity underpinning natural systems’ (under the THEME T27 Geoheritage, Geoparks, and Geotourism) and a short course “‘Geoheritage and geoconservation as applied geosciences: principles, methods, and challenges’. A total of 14 oral presentations and 10 poster presentations were made in the session, while 25 attendees participated in the short course, including participants from South America, Africa, SE Asia, New Zealand and the U.S.A. [1].

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16.03.2025

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The description is based on the ProGEO reports [2], [3], [4] and [5];  compiled by Ewa Głowniak and reviewed by Mauricio Faraone Pimienta, Maria da Glória Garcia and José Alexandre de Jesus Perinotto. 

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References

[1] Gordon, J. 2024. ProGEO activities at the 37th International Geological Congress, Busan. ProGEO News, 3–4, pp. 6–7. 

[2] Garcia, M.G. 2022. Geological Heritage, VI Brazilian Symposium. ProGEO News, 2, p. 10. 

[3] Garcia, M.G. 2023. Report on activity in 2023 Regional Group - Latin America and the Caribbean. ProGEO News, 1-4, p. 7. 

[4] Faraone, M. 2024. Participatory Geoconservation Workshop. ProGEO News, 1–2, pp. 8-9.

[5] Głowniak, E. 2023. Report to the General Assembly from the Executive Secretary for the years 2021–2022. General Assembly of ProGEO 2023.