Study On Comprehensive Value Evaluation And Classification Management Of National Geopark

Geopark is an important part of the ecological-friendly land utilization in China.Construction of geoparks is the concrete practice for implementing the development concept of innovation, harmonization, green, openness and sharing.Since its establishment thegeopark in China has accumulated rich experiences in the management system catering to national conditions. Under the new circumstances, there arise issues needed to beconsidered andaddressed, which requires breakthrough in both theoretical support and assessment system. The study on the comprehensive value of geopark and quantitative assessment of their types has key practical significance for grasping the essence, optimizing the management and giving full play to the resources of geoparks.Based on the theories of natural resource value in economics and ecological system value in ecology, and the research on values of the geopark, the comprehensive value concept model of geopark was put forward, which consists of three value layers: core value,middle value and external value, corresponding to the environmental protection, humane services and economic development functionsof geopark. The proportions of each value layer vary according to the resource characteristics and the regional development levels. The modelwas refined through the whole study which enrichedthe connotation of comprehensive value, revealedthe intrinsic links amongst the value layers and differentfunctions. The analysis reinforces the theoretical foundation for the management and operation of geoparks from the perspective of comprehensive value.In accordance with the principles that the indicators are complete, objective, practical,independent and systematic, the geopark comprehensive assessment index system was established through research on theory and literatures,the collection and comparison of a large number of indicators, consultation of professionals, and the normalized processing. The indicators contain natural value, scientific and aestheticvalue, economic and cultural value,and ecological value. The natural value includes factors showing that the geo-heritage is typical, scarce, natural, systematic and complete; the scientific and aestheticvalue contains scientific research value, science popularization value, visualand recreational value; the economic and cultural value refers to the value of location, history, folklore and religion;and the ecological value combines the ecological environment and the size and capacity, using analytic hierarchy process to index system for weight assignment.The above established index system was adopted in evaluating the comprehensivevalueof 35 national geoparks in China, and the clustering method of multiple correspondence analysis was used in analyzingthe assessment results, which obtains several geopark groups with common characteristics of value combinations. Finally, through analysis of the total combination, 5 types of geopark were summarized and named as resources type, ecological type, comprehensive type I(high development), comprehensive type II(middle development)and comprehensive type III(low development). Based on the refined comprehensive value model of geopark, the value orientated national geopark management system framework was established, with recommendations for the management of differenttypes of national geopark put forward, providing scientific basis to promote the optimized disposition ofgeopark resources and all-round improvement of the comprehensive benefits.