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"Tinutul Buzaului" (Buzau Land) on Thursday officially received the title of UNESCO Global Geopark, being recognized as a territory with natural and cultural values of global importance.
"Buzau Land" thus became the second geopark in Romania included in the Global Geoparks Network (GGN), after "Hateg Country".
The ceremony took place during an online event attended by, among others, representatives of seven other geoparks from Brazil, Finland, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and Sweden, accredited together with the one from Buzau County.
The president of the Buzau County Council, Petre Emanoil Neagu, said that this title crowns a decade of work and will bring benefits to the whole local community and not only, mentioning that it is "the most important event in the last 30 years".
"It's been ten years of work and I thank all those who have been involved in this project. We are aware and responsible that we still have a lot of work to do. Congratulations to the other seven geoparks that have joined the great family of geoparks today," said Petre Emanoil Neagu.
The rural territory in the sub-mountainous area of Buzau County included in this geopark covers an area of over 1,000 square kilometers and has a population of over 40,000 inhabitants living in 18 communes.
The muddy volcanoes, the salt domes, the live fires, the concretions from Ulmet, the cave settlements and the amber from Colti are among the most famous attractions of this region.
According to the local authorities, the status of UNESCO Global Geopark attests to the respective territory as being an area in which considerable efforts are made for the educational, economic and socio-cultural development of the communities, in consensus with the protection and development of the environment.
Buzau Land will also benefit from the promotion of UNESCO through the European and Global Geoparks Network, and the new status will attract tourists and have the potential to persuade entrepreneurs to invest in alternative tourism, agri-tourism, cultural or adventure tourism.
Also, this statute will entail financing and investments in many other fields of activity, being an opportunity for economic and social rebirth of this territory.
The list of UNESCO geoparks consists of 177 territories in 46 countries, whose sites and landscapes of international value are managed through an integrated approach, which includes tourism development, education and the preservation of natural and cultural heritage.
