The Global Geoparks Network is glad to announce that the 8th International Conference on UNESCO Global Geoparks is going to take place at the Adamello-Brenta UNESCO Global Geopark in Trentino, Italy in September 2018. Over eight hundred delegates representing the Global Geoparks, senior UNESCO officials, scientists, policy makers and government representatives from all over the globe will gather in Trentino, Italy to discuss the state of the art on the UNESCO Global Geoparks and the activities of the Global Geoparks Network on Earth heritage protection and enchancement and on susteinable development promotion through geotourism and environmental education.

The Adamello Brenta Geopark territory represents an area of extraordinary geological-environmental interest and value, characterised by several spectacular geological features.

There are numerous sites with high geological value, which when considered in its broadest sense, includes scientific interest, rare educational opportunities as well as cultural and historical importance.

They represent the most significant heritage that the Geopark aims to promote and protect through the development of suitable and sustainable geotourism.

The Adamello Brenta area has been frequently visited and studied since the 1800s and is still of great interest for geologists.

Since 1999, when the Park Plan was approved, the Park has shown its intention to promote scientific research in the fields of geology and geomorphology, emphasising the importance of taking a detailed census of all the geosites, listing them as “natural monuments”.

The Adamello Brenta Nature Geopark is the largest protected area of Trentino, Italy. Located in the western part of Trentino Province, it is 620,517km2 wide: it includes Adamello and Brenta mountainous groups, divided by the Valley of Rendena and bordered by the Valley of Non, the Valley of Sole and the Giudicarie Valley. It is endowed with 80 lakes and with the Adamello Glacier, one of the largest glaciers in Europe. Its fauna is among the richest of the Alps and includes all animal species, including bears and steinbocks, which find their habitat on the mountains.

The peculiarity of the Adamello Brenta Nature Geopark lies in the presence of two completely different geological and geomorphologic worlds - on the one hand, the Brenta Dolomites, which are listed as World Heritage Site by Unesco and are profoundly modeled by karstification, and on the other, the Adamello-Presanella, characterized by glacial phenomena.

In 2008 the Park has achieved recognition as the Adamello Brenta Nature Geopark, becoming part of the European Network and Global Geoparks.

The project has been implemented in collaboration with the Science Museum (MUSE) and the Geological Survey Office (Servizio Geologico) of the Autonomous Province of Trento.

The Adamello Brenta Geopark is committed to promoting a type of tourism which is both sustainable for the areas involved and attractive for the market.

Its strategy is based on three principles:

• the participation and active involvement of all parties with interests in the tourism district
• protection of diversity and therefore the safeguarding of existing motives for tourism
• promotion of diversity, namely the discovery and invention of new opportunities for tourism

The Adamello Brenta Nature Geopark has been strongly committed to sustainable tourism and associated issues from the 2000-2005 legislature until the recent signing of the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism, which was obtained for the first time in 2006.

This tool provided the Park with a positive experience of dialogue with the local community, with whom it identified a joint strategy for sustainable development, and especially with the representatives of the tourism industry, given that the protected area includes three of the most important winter tourism districts in the Trentino area (Madonna di Campiglio- Pinzolo, Andalo-Molveno and Folgarida-Marilleva).

In 2001 the Park obtained the ISO 14001 certification and launched the so-called “Qualità Parco” (“Park Quality”) logo, a local environmental/marketing certification project aiming to promote an “environmental philosophy” among local businesses and residents, tourist service providers, food and agricultural companies, schools and traditional holiday accommodation. The concept of certified environmental quality helps spreading a new environmental education among local businesses and residents.

The Park has been actively involved in several projects aiming to experience a new way of managing the environmental resources, save energy, reduce pollution and, consequently, the emission of greenhouse gases.​