Hopes high for increased tourism as Mourne Gullion Strangford Unesco Geopark status bid granted

The Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast is Northern Ireland's only Unesco World Heritage Site and was inscribed in 1986 as a natural site in recognition of its geological and geomorphological values, its history of scientific study and exceptional landscape values.

However, the newly recognised Mourne Gullion Strangford Unesco Geopark is the second site in Northern Ireland to receive the award, with the first given to the Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark in Fermanagh and Cavan in 2015.

It was the world's first cross-border geopark.

Now a second area of the province has been formally designated by Unesco as a global geopark.

Mourne Gullion Strangford encompasses three areas of outstanding natural beauty: Mourne, Ring of Gullion, and Strangford Lough and Lecale.

The geopark will then include the marine protected, and undeniably beautiful, areas of Murlough, Strangford Lough and Carlingford Lough.

More than 180,000 people live in the area and the project, which has been years in the making, has been part of the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council’s tourism strategy since 2017.

The application by Newry Mourne and Down District Council for the coveted status was ratified by the Unesco's executive board in Paris on Wednesday (May 24, 2023).

The council bid was one of 10 approved by Unesco in December 2022.

A Unesco geopark is defined as a single unified geographical area, where landscapes of geological significance are managed holistically for the protection of its geology, the education of its people and visitors, and the sustainable development of its businesses.

The geopark tells 'A Tale of Two Oceans' across 400 million years of geological history, ranging from the closure of the ancient lapetus Ocean which brought together the island of Ireland's two parts, to the island drifting with the continents through tropical latitudes, the birth of the modern North Atlantic Ocean and the last glaciation which carved the landscape into the area it is today.

Those who lobbied for the Mourne Gullion Strangford Unesco Geopark status said no other such park had the same variety of compelling and unique geological characteristics.

"The status of Unesco Global Geopark immediately puts us on the world stage," said council chair Michael Savage.

"One distinctive [feature of the] Mourne Gullion Strangford Geopark project is the fantastic dune restoration project at Tyrella Beach near Downpatrick,” he added.

"This tourist hotspot was at serious risk of erosion due to the loss of its dunes until local volunteers and geopark staff got together with homegrown charity True Harvest Seeds to gather, grow and plant native dune grasses to capture the blowing sand."