Pla­tå­ber­gens Geo­park con­tri­bu­tes to achi­e­ving the glo­bal sustai­nab­le deve­lop­ment goals, Agen­da 2030, as well as the Swe­dish stra­te­gi­es for envi­ron­men­tal qua­li­ty, recre­a­tion, and cul­tural heri­tage. For more details, see our poli­cy document.

The max­im “the tab­le mountain lands­cape will be used, not used up” will govern the geopark’s work in tou­rism deve­lop­ment on and around the tab­le mountains. The lands­cape is a uni­que resour­ce that will be used in tou­rism, but wit­hout endan­ge­ring the chan­ces of coming gene­ra­tions using the same resource.

Pla­tå­ber­gens Geo­park has iden­ti­fi­ed seven key con­di­tions that must be met if the area is to be a sustai­nab­le destination:

  • Know­led­ge through making inven­to­ri­es and doing vul­ne­ra­bi­li­ty analyses
  • Infrastructu­re in place
  • Clear divi­sion of roles/ownership
  • Visi­tor pressu­re spre­ad over mul­tip­le areas
  • Pro­long­ed season
  • Fos­sil free tra­vel­ling is favoured
  • Infor­ma­tion to visi­tors, e.g. about the Right of Pub­lic Access.

For a sustai­nab­le deve­lop­ment to be imple­men­ted in the practi­cal work, two key parts need to be in pla­ce. The first is the work/responsibilities of the muni­ci­pa­li­ti­es, and the second is the work/responsibilities of other actors. A geo­park can sup­port both through infor­ma­tion and materials.

The tab­le mountain lands­cape should be used – not used up!

Geo­lo­gy tells our planet’s histo­ry. Throug­hout natu­re, the­re are uni­que geo­lo­gi­cal sites which are of sci­en­ti­fic and peda­go­gi­cal impor­tan­ce, hel­ping us understand our planet’s histo­ry and the evo­lu­tion of life on Earth. The­se sites must be pre­ser­ved. But geo­lo­gy is also the basis of bio­lo­gi­cal diver­si­ty and human histo­ry, and the geo­lo­gi­cal con­di­tions are nee­ded to pre­ser­ve the­se values. 

Accor­ding to the pre­requi­si­tes set up by UNE­SCO, a geo­park must not be invol­ved in any kind of extrac­tion or sel­ling of geo­lo­gi­cal mate­ri­al – neit­her direct­ly nor through a part­ner. We encou­rage eve­ry­o­ne to enjoy the geo­lo­gy on-site, and we remind you that it is ille­gal under Swe­dish law to take any sto­nes or rocks with you wit­hout the per­mis­sion of the lan­dow­ner. It is also ille­gal to chip off pie­ces of rock or to car­ve your name in the cliffs. Our geo­park is going to be enjoyed by many gene­ra­tions of visi­tors in the futu­re, so ple­a­se be care­ful, show respect, and avo­id lit­te­ring and unne­ces­sa­ry wear on the land.