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Two Saudi Geoparks Nominated for Inclusion in UNESCO Global Geoparks Network

The announcement was made at the ninth session of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council, held in Vietnam on September 8 and 9 - SPA Photo 
The announcement was made at the ninth session of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council, held in Vietnam on September 8 and 9 - SPA Photo 
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Two Saudi Geoparks Nominated for Inclusion in UNESCO Global Geoparks Network

The announcement was made at the ninth session of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council, held in Vietnam on September 8 and 9 - SPA Photo 
The announcement was made at the ninth session of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council, held in Vietnam on September 8 and 9 - SPA Photo 

In a significant step that testifies to Saudi Arabia’s role in preserving geological heritage and promoting sustainable development, the National Center for Vegetation Cover Development & Combating Desertification (NCVC) and the Saudi National Commission for Education, Culture, and Science announced that the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council has endorsed the nomination of "North Riyadh Geopark" and "Salma Geopark" for inclusion in the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network.
The announcement was made at the ninth session of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council, held in Vietnam on September 8 and 9, SPA reported.
The two sites were selected based on rigorous criteria, such as the comprehensive management of geologically significant areas of global importance, by integrating protection, education, and sustainable development. A key element of this approach is engaging local communities.
During the ninth session of the council, 21 candidate sites were evaluated, and 15 received approval. According to a statement from UNESCO, if the new nominations are granted final approval, the number of UNESCO Global Geoparks will reach 228 in 49 countries.
This nomination represents a major step toward international recognition of these geologically significant sites, and highlights Saudi Arabia’s efforts to preserve and develop sites of global geological importance. It also elevates the Kingdom’s international standing in environmental conservation and sustainable development.
Following the final decision, expected at the UNESCO General Conference in March 2025, Saudi Arabia will officially join the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network for the first time.
NCVC CEO Dr. Khaled bin Abdullah Al-Abdulkader highlighted the significance of this remarkable achievement, which he attributed to the dedicated efforts to protect the Kingdom’s unique natural environment and vegetation. He said that these efforts contribute directly to achieving the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 Sustainable Development Program through the concept of geoparks.
Secretary-General of the Saudi National Commission for Education, Culture, and Science Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Alblihed said the nomination is bound to raise global awareness about the Kingdom’s geological heritage and strengthen its leading role in protecting natural sites and fostering the development of local communities.
It further strengthens Saudi Arabia's position as a key player in global geotourism, which is consistent with Vision 2030, and aims to diversify the economy and promote environmental sustainability.
North Riyadh Geopark and Salma Geopark are globally significant geological sites, boasting a unique geological diversity that combines ancient formations and breathtaking natural landscapes, reflecting a geological history that spans millions of years.
Saudi Arabia remains committed to contributing to international environmental protection efforts and raising environmental awareness. These geoparks will offer local and international visitors the opportunity to explore the Kingdom’s unique geological heritage, thus fostering scientific and cultural understanding of the importance of preserving geological diversity.
They also enable Saudi Arabia to present a pioneering model of sustainable natural resource management that integrates ecotourism with local development, creating job opportunities and providing educational resources for local communities. The model is based on collaboration between the public, private, and non-profit sectors, which helps achieve sustainable development goals at both national and international levels.

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Han Kang Wins Nobel Prize for Literature

10 October 2024, Berlin: A customer in the bookstore Dussmann das Kulturkaufhaus holds a book by 2024 Nobel Prize winner Han Kang from South Korea. Photo: Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
10 October 2024, Berlin: A customer in the bookstore Dussmann das Kulturkaufhaus holds a book by 2024 Nobel Prize winner Han Kang from South Korea. Photo: Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
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Han Kang Wins Nobel Prize for Literature

10 October 2024, Berlin: A customer in the bookstore Dussmann das Kulturkaufhaus holds a book by 2024 Nobel Prize winner Han Kang from South Korea. Photo: Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
10 October 2024, Berlin: A customer in the bookstore Dussmann das Kulturkaufhaus holds a book by 2024 Nobel Prize winner Han Kang from South Korea. Photo: Sebastian Gollnow/dpa

South Korean poet and novelist Han Kang was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday for a poetic and unsettling body of work that the Nobel committee said “confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”
A slow-burning international literary star who has won multiple awards in South Korea and Europe, Han is the first Asian woman and the first South Korean writer to win the Nobel literature prize. She was awarded for books, including “The Vegetarian” and “Human Acts," that explore the pain of being human and the scars of Korea's turbulent history.
Nobel literature committee member Anna-Karin Palm said Han writes about “trauma, pain and loss,” whether individual or collective, “with the same compassion and care.”
“And this, I think, is something that is quite remarkable,” The Associated Press quoted Palm as saying.
Nobel committee chairman Anders Olsson praised Han’s “empathy for the vulnerable, often female lives” of her characters.
“She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead,” Olsson said.
Han is the second South Korean national to win a Nobel Prize. Late former President Kim Dae-jung won the peace prize in 2000 for his efforts to restore democracy in South Korea during the country’s previous military rule and improve relations with war-divided rival North Korea.
Mats Malm, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy that awards the prize, said he spoke to the author and surprised her with the news.
“She was having an ordinary day, it seems, had just finished supper with her son,” he said. “She wasn’t really prepared for this.”
Han wins the Nobel at a time of growing global influence of South Korean culture, which in recent years has included the success of films like director Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning “ Parasite,” the Netflix survival drama “Squid Game” and the worldwide fame of K-pop groups like BTS and BLACKPINK.
Han, 53, won the International Booker Prize for fiction translated into English in 2016 for “The Vegetarian,” an unsettling novel in which a woman’s decision to stop eating meat has devastating consequences.
Accepting that award, Han said writing novels “is a way of questioning for me.”
“I just try to complete my questions through the process of my writing and I try to stay in the questions, sometimes painful, sometimes — well — sometimes demanding,” she said.
With “The Vegetarian,” she said, ”I wanted to question about being human and I wanted to describe a woman who desperately didn’t want to belong to the human race any longer."
Han made her publishing debut as a poet in 1993; her first short story collection was published in 1995 and her first novel, “Black Deer,” in 1998.
Works translated into English include “Greek Lessons” — about the relationship between a woman who can no longer speak and a teacher who is losing his sight — “Human Acts” and “The White Book,” a poetic novel that draws on the death of Han’s older sister shortly after birth. “The White Book” was an International Booker Prize finalist in 2018.
“Human Acts” — which Olsson, the Nobel committee chair, called a work of “witness literature” — is based on the real-life killing of pro-democracy protesters in Han’s home city of Gwangju in 1980. The book won Italy’s Malaparte Prize in 2017.
Her most recent novel, “We Do Not Part,” is due to be published in English next year. It also confronts a chapter in South Korea's 20th-century history, which saw the country endure war, the division of the Korean peninsula and dictatorship. The novel deals with a 1948-1949 uprising on Jeju, an island south of the Korean mainland in which thousands of people were killed.
Anders Karlsson, a lecturer at London's School of Oriental and African Studies who has translated Han into Swedish, said he was “overjoyed” at the Nobel accolade.
He said Han's “poignant, condensed” prose is able to describe “difficult and dark passages in South Korean history ... in quite open and inviting language that engages and does not deter the reader.”
The literature prize has long faced criticism that it is too focused on European and North American writers of style-heavy, story-light prose. It has also been male-dominated — Han is only the 18th woman among its 120 laureates.