Geological Heritage has very diverse elements, both for its intrinsic nature and for its social and scientific significance. These elements have a scientific dimension (stratigraphic, geomorphological, lithological, paleontological, etc.) and a landscape dimension, both with implications for territorial management. In territorial management and planning, it is essential to carry out an inventory and cataloging of places of natural and social interest, to establish a comprehensive policy. The identification and valuation of the geological and biological heritage, and their interaction in the landscape, should favor the conservation and preservation of this natural and historical heritage. Sustainable development implies a rational use that prevents the degradation or loss of these unique environments of the natural environment; as well as a dissemination and awareness of landscape resources, for a better understanding and enjoyment, integrating activities of environmental education and nature tourism. The diversity of a territory is the result of the complex and continuous interaction of the geological substrate (geotopical) and biological factors that model the existing ecological and evolutionary processes at the level of genes, species, ecosystems, and landscapes, and that are expressed in a characteristic representation of organisms adapted to these factors. These vary according to the spatial dimensions and the temporal scales considered, in a wide range that goes from the geological processes that involve millions of years and vast territories to the casuistic biotic and anthropic events that can occur in an instant in any territorial sector. However, it is the circumstances derived from human activity that in recent decades are intensely modeling natural landscapes on a planetary scale. Whether this process of global “domestication” is part of the natural evolutionary cycle or not is an issue that is subject to intense debate and is inextricably associated with the other crucial debate on the ethics of human development. Is it incompatible with the preservation of geodiversity and biodiversity and landscape agreements? Is it possible to obtain the necessary resources from a territory without draining them and maintaining the ecosystem services of the same? Is there a more responsible social and political paradigm with the preservation of the natural environment? From the point of view of science, one of the ways to contribute objectively to that evaluation is to provide the collection and processing of field and laboratory data, which determine and model trends to explain this diversity and the geo-environmental interactions present in each rural and/or natural landscape, including the human species. The objective of this Special Issue is to highlight the importance of studies on geological and biological heritage and their involvement in geodiversity and biodiversity in an integrated way in the landscape, describing varied methodologies applied to specific territories (cultural and traditional heritage,) taking into account the singularity and its geoconservation based on active processes (geological risks, anthropic environmental impacts, etc.) and dynamics of its ecosystems (biological invasions, bioindicators, ethnobotanical studies, interactions between species, agrobiodiversity, etc.). This Special Issue will collect high-quality papers that contribute to the methodology and application of both design approaches and evaluation and decision-making frameworks in the context of the definition of strategies for natural heritage (geological and biological) and landscape.
Keywords: geological heritage and geodiversity; biological heritage and biodiversity; landscape – quality and landscape fragility; cultural heritage and sustainability; landscape degradation – climate change, agroecosystems, ethnobotany.