Last week, on the 9th, the Itoigawa Global Geopark had its certification renewed at the 3rd annual Asia Pacific Geoparks Network Symposium held at the Jeju KAL Hotel in Jeju, South Korea.
The announcement was made as part of the welcome dinner, in the following picture you can see the tension in the air as representatives from around the world wait to see how their geoparks fared in the recertification:
Tension was equally high back home at the Itoigawa City Office, as members of the public gathered to watch a live feed of the results.
At 6:20pm, the Global Geoparks Network representative displayed a list of Geoparks which received recertification…
…and Itoigawa was on the list! In addition to Itoigawa, Toya Caldera – Usu Volcano Geopark and Unzen Volcanic Area Geopark also received recertification. This means the first three Global Geoparks in Japan all passed their first round of recertification.
Congratulations and thanks are in order to all the people of Itoigawa, without whom the Itoigawa Global Geopark would not be possible. Let’s all work together to make the Itoigawa Global Geopark the best it can be!
–Ishikoro