LANGKAWI: The Langkawi UNESCO Global Geopark status re-assessment process, which ends today, has shown positive indications that the Kedah tourism jewel will secure the 'green card' for the fourth consecutive time.
Langkawi was declared a Geopark by Global Geopark Network (GGN) under UNESCO on June 1, 2007, and subject to re-assessment every four years.
The island successfully retained the 'green card' status for the previous three re-assessments, which geology experts carried out in 2011, 2015 and 2019.
Caretaker Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said while the official results would only be known by September, two experts, Dr Yuanyuan Zheng from China and Dr Yongmun Jeon from Korea had given positive feedback to Langkawi.
"I am very positive (about retaining the green card) by taking into account feedback by the two experts from China and Korea who had carried out the five-day re-assessment process here.
"I wish that it will remain (the green card) since we only have two global georparks in this country, namely Langkawi and Kinabalu, as compared to China with 41, Korea with five and Indonesia with 10 sites," he told reporters after attending a dinner in conjunction with the Langkawi UNESCO Geopark Assessment process here yesterday (July 3).
Sanusi added that the global geopark status is vital for the island to achieve a target of attracting 3.2 million visitors by the end of this year.
"At the same time, the state government has set a target to secure a global geopark status in the next two years after securing the national geopark status on July 18, 2018," he said.
