ANGLESEY'S coveted global Geopark status celebrating the island’s unique geology and culture has been renewed for another four years by UNESCO.

The move follows scrutiny of an Anglesey-based charity GeoMôn by international experts from China and Spain.

UNESCO specialists visited Ynys Môn in the autumn and toured the island with GeoMôn hosts.

GeoMôn is an organisation which works in partnership to help raises awareness of Anglesey’s geological heritage.

As well as visiting Anglesey’s sites of outstanding geology, landscape and industrial heritage, the experts met local business people, naturalists and civic figures.

GeoMôn director Dr Margaret Wood, of Llansadwrn, said: “I am absolutely thrilled for both Ynys Môn and for GeoMôn.

"We have a dedicated team of volunteers who are passionate about Anglesey, its people and its geology, and a huge amount of work goes into obtaining revalidation of UNESCO Global Geopark status. I am grateful to all who were involved.

“It is a remarkable accolade, and puts Anglesey right up there with the finest the world has to offer in terms of geology, scenery and heritage."

A Geopark is an area with an expressed geological heritage and a strategy for sustainable economical development and promotion of that development to the benefit of the local community. GeoMôn is one of seven in the UK.

Dr Wood added: "It is recognition of the considerable progress we have made in recent years in developing awareness, both on and off the island, of Ynys Môn’s extraordinary geology, and in facilitating and developing geo-tourism and education.

This revalidation – only our second – lasts for four years and gives us a firm foundation upon which to promote awareness of all that Anglesey has to offer.”

Anglesey’s geology is significant as 1,800 million years of history have fashioned more than 100 different rock types on the island, over twelve geological periods.

The geodiversity of Anglesey’s underlying rocks has fashioned the diverse flora and fauna that make the island’s interior special and its 125 mile coastline is nationally recognised as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

“Anglesey has a unique and internationally important geo-heritage and, arguably, has the greatest geodiversity for its size of anywhere in Europe. Anglesey’s residents and visitors tread daily on rocks spanning four Eras, twelve Geological Periods and a staggering 1,800 million years of history,” said Dr Wood, who founded GeoMôn in 2005.

GeoMôn is a social enterprise set up to encourage awareness of the rich geological heritage of Anglesey and, among its many activities and publications, its walks are now a popular feature of Anglesey’s annual Walking Festival.