C.2 Expert Meeting on Geological and Fossil Sites held at the 30th International Geological Congress (Beijing, China, 8 to 10 August 1996)
IX.16 The Committee recalled that the Bureau at its eighteenth session in July 1994, had asked for an expert meeting on geological and fossil sites. This expert meeting was held at the 30th International Geological Congress (Beijing, China, 8 to 10 August 1996) in order to enhance the preparation of a comparative global study of Earth's evolutionary history. The meeting was organized by the UNESCO Division of Earth Sciences, the World Heritage Centre in cooperation with IUCN and IUGS (International Union of Geological Sciences). The Canadian authorities provided financial support for participants' travel to the expert meeting.
IX.17 The Committee took note of the full report of this expert group which is contained in Information Document WHC-96/CONF.201/INF.10 and the annexed report "Earth's Geological History. A conceptual framework for assessment of World Heritage fossil site nominations". The Delegate of Italy noted that the list of sites proposed in this study is not exhaustive. Following the experts' recommendations, the Committee (a) encouraged States Parties to the Convention to prepare inventories of their national geological heritage, and further to consider identifying from these inventories sites for national tentative lists for World Heritage, (b) that IUGS, through the Global Geosite Working Group, make a first assessment of the values of these sites and compile a global comparative inventory and database, (c) invited IUCN to cooperate closely with IUGS and other NGOs as appropriate for further evaluation of sites proposed for World Heritage listing and (d) encouraged in-depth thematic studies, taking into account the important study prepared by Mr Wells on fossil sites.