The UFTM (Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro) signed this Thursday (23) a letter of intent with representatives of the Brazilian Association of Zebu Breeders, the Uberaba City Hall and Sebrae to transform the Uberaba Geopark into the first to have the title of UNESCO World Geopark in Minas Gerais.
The document will be forwarded to UNESCO, in Paris, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. With the validation of the letter, the project can be elevated to the category of “aspiring” geopark. The expectation of the representatives is that, within two years, a dossier with a complete description of the actions in Uberaba will be sent to the agency.
“We need to fix some points that are not ready yet, such as the places for public visitation, with explanatory signs about what the person will see there, panels, drawings, accesses, because they are mountainous regions, with waterfalls and in the middle of the forest. Therefore, it will take another year or two,” explains UFTM geologist Luiz Carlos Borges Ribeiro, who is the creator of the project.
Geopark is the name given by UNESCO to areas or places with geological heritage of international relevance within a holistic vision of education, conservation and sustainable development, leveraged by tourism.
To win the title it is necessary to have a geological heritage of international relevance, but also to show the identity and values of the territory. Therefore, the letter highlights other attributes of Uberaba, in Minas Gerais, such as the fact that it was the city where the medium Chico Xavier revealed himself to spiritism and that the city is the world capital of zebu.
The third is the fact that it is the “Land of the Dinosaurs of Brazil”, because of the paleontology works in the neighborhood of Peirópolis. The rural area is a tourist attraction of the municipality, with paleontological sites.
There, paleontologist Llewellyn Ivor Price, from the then National Department of Mineral Production – now the National Mining Agency –, carried out excavations, research and left a legacy to Brazilian paleontology between 1947 and 1974.
From 1992, these activities were resumed by the Center for Paleontological Research Llewellyn Ivor Price and the Dinosaur Museum of the Cultural and Scientific Complex of Peirópolis, from UFTM. The place has a structure for research, academic production, educational projects and dissemination of knowledge. Adding to 30 years of activities, it was visited by more than 1.5 million people, from more than 1,250 Brazilian municipalities and almost 100 countries.
In April this year, UNESCO declared two Brazilian sites as world geoparks: Seridó, in Rio Grande do Norte, and Caminhos dos Cânions do Sul, between Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.
There is also the Araripe Geopark, between the states of Ceará, Pernambuco and Piauí.
