Opening Ceremony Abstracts

 
Geological issues related to the Earth's subsurface increasingly intruding on the everyday lives of ordinary people. Whether it is the subsurface injection of water for geothermal power, the deep storage of waste such as CO₂ or spent nuclear material, or the storage and recovery of H₂ and O₂, the global public are being confronted with complex, often controversial, and yet critical (in terms of tackling the linked issues of global warming and lower-carbon energy provision) geological interventions beneath their homes. Communicating these complex scientific and technical issues is made more challenging by the general public's unfamiliarity with the geological realm, with cognitive studies highlighting that the public is anxious about what they perceive as tampering with nature. Relatively recent events have shown that this anxiety is not misplaced, given geothermally- and fracking-induced seismicity, and mine tailings dam failures.
 The natural response of scientists is to assume that technical rigour and the simple conveyance of facts will allay the public's concerns and gain them 'licence to operate'. However, values and beliefs may trump data, particularly when filtered through the lived experience of individuals who not only have limited understanding of the Earth beneath their feet, but who have also experienced poor conduct by companies. Shaping public perspectives on controversial geoscientific issues are thus challenging, yet it is critical that companies are prepared for these discussions. With a growing recognition that it is social rather than technical factors that stir public unease and fuel community outrage, geoscientists need to develop new strategies to engage the sometimes-hostile public, underpinned by a culture change in geocommunication from conveying 'matters of fact' to brokering 'matters of concern'.
 In this talk I will review several studies with the intent of how we might better communicate "contested geoscience"!
 

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Geology and the Sustainble Development Goals
Adiyaman Lopes O. & Sabo R.
 
 
Section on Earth Sciences and Geoparks, Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences, Natural Sciences Sector, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Geology, with its quiet wisdom, reveals the connection of all life, showing that sustainable development is rooted in humans' mutual relationship with the Earth. UNESCO recognises that neglecting to understand our planet's geological framework could undermine 2030 the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNESCO, which holds the unique United Nations mandate for geoscience, directs a global network of geologists and sites working on projects related to the SDGs through its International Geoscience and Geoparks Programme (IGGP).
Geoscientists Unite for Planetary Challenges: The International Geoscience Programme (IGCP)
In collaboration with the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), the IGCP programme harnesses the intellectual capacity of a worldwide network of geoscientists to lay the foundation for our planet's future, highlighting the importance of SDG 17: Partnerships for Goals amongst other. The IGCP supports projects under six themes: Earth resources, global changes and the evolution of life, geohazards, hydrogeology, geodynamics, and geoheritage, addressing global challenges and sustainable development. The programme also supports female scientists, youth, and those from developing countries.
As an illustration, IGCP project 767: Environmental Dynamics of Western Rwanda focus on SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing. This project conducts a comprehensive study of the Mount Nyiragongo region in Rwanda to understand potential health risks to inhabitants, particularly regarding volcanic emissions, soils, and lakes.
Geological Heritage for Everyone: UNESCO Designated sites and geosciences
UNESCO designated sites, World Heritage, Biosphere Reserves and Global Geoparks (UGGp), aim to protect our heritage, which is deeply connected with geology. Italy is home to the largest number of world heritage sites, with 59 inscribed properties, all of which relate to the geoheritage of Italy.
Humans have always been connected to Earth, and the 213 UNESCO Global Geoparks across 48 countries, as of 2024, uniquely embody this connection. Geoparks empower local communities to understand and nurture their territories. A UGGp integrates the protection and promotion of geological heritage with sustainable local development, focusing on conserving geological heritage alongside other heritage types to enhance community living conditions. Thus, the three pillars of a UGGp are geoconservation, education, and local sustainable development (Fornaro & Fernandes, 2018).
Concerning sustainable development, geoparks implement projects that benefit local communities through a "bottom-up" approach, which is demonstrated in the 11 UGGps in Italy (2024) . For example, Rocca di Cerere's UGGp in Italy, established a Local Development Strategy focusing on enhancing the area's sustainability by improving local environmental and cultural heritage, as well as agricultural resources. In the short term, it aims to improve residents' quality of life and social inclusion, while long-term goals include preventing depopulation and strengthening the social fabric.
UNESCO Global Geoparks make geology accessible to all and highlight the importance of connecting with local geological features for sustainable development.

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Geology: as fascinating as difficult to describe
Bignami L.
Journalist and science communicator
 

The history of mankind is tied to the history of the Earth. The birth of our Planet, its evolution, the ongoing geological processes have allowed and allow the Planet to be alive and host life. Yet we know very little about what happened during Earth's 4.5 billion years of life, and we know even less about what lies beneath the surface. While all this is fascinating, the lack of knowledge of many geological processes makes it difficult to explain geology to non-geologists.
Luckily, sometimes nature comes to our aid: this is the case of Calabria, for example, where tectonic thrusts have bent the "layers" of the Earth by 90 degrees. It's as if instead of having a book to read page after page, you had a vertical book that allows you to see all the pages from above, from the first to the last one. Crossing Calabria from east to west across the verticalized layers, it is possible to walk from the rocks that were at the transition between crust and mantle up to the more superficial rocks of the crust. An example of how anyone can travel down to the depths of the Earth's structure while standing on its surface.
But explaining geology is also difficult because we are not used to imagining in three dimensions what is under our feet. And this is fundamental because the layers of the Earth are not always parallel to each other, and their chronological order is often reversed. In fact, buried "folds", "faults", and "thrusts" could have folded everything and brought very old rocks on top of younger rocks. The trained eye of a geologist can sometimes picture all this complexity, but for the layman things become simply too complex to understand. It takes knowledge and imagination, and a good dose of interpretation and creativity to properly convey the beauty of geology. In this way, a good geology communicator can show how, in addition to being useful, geology can lead to see the "beauty" of our Earth.
If geological dissemination can achieve this ambitious goal, it will lead us on the right path to understanding why the beauties of the Planet sometimes become destructive for mankind. Especially if and when mankind is unable to read the geological clues around us.

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The storytelling of natural beauty to learn how to recognize and share it

Casalini E.
Journalist and science communicator
 

Italy, this privileged country where we are surrounded by beauty since our birth. And perhaps for this reason our eyes have become accustomed to absorbing all this beauty while our hands, words, actions, thoughts are less used to it.
Art, museums, archaeological areas, religious and civil buildings which made our cities, towns, villages with their amazing historic city center and squares like hearts. They are part of the incredible cultural heritage that we share with the world. This is the reason why people land here from every part of the world. And we can add music, speeches, culture, food and wine, craftsmanship, including fashion. All this, and much more, is the opera of human beings.
But also nature it's an absolute protagonist of our story. Even if we forget about it and it's a shame, because it has so much to tell.
In stones which gave substance to all architectures designed over the centuries and of which we are rightly proud. From Carrara marble that provides the material for Jago and Michelangelo's artworks, to the raw materials used to make the colors that filled our imagination. Like the most famous fresco in the world, the Last Judgment of the Sistine Chapel, whose blue has reached us with that intensity because it is made with lapis lazuli, a mineral extracted for 7 thousand years in Afghanistan's mines of Sar-e-Sang. And getting it there cost an arm and a leg and only a Pope could afford it.
So, the storytelling of that wonder becomes much richer if there is also the voice of a geologist in addition to the one of an art expert.
Thus our landscapes, our lands, from Sienna to the small spheres of Is Arutas' beach in Sardinia, become the reason for a trip. Better appreciated if told in any aspect.
To discover the beauty hidden within the mineral life that surrounds us.