Andiani, the head of the Bojonegoro geopark verification team from the agency, said Bojonegoro’s geoheritage documents were almost complete. “It’s about 80 percent. I still have to visit locations, which have geoheritage potential in Bojonegoro,” she said as quoted by Antara on Wednesday.

Andiani said that if Bojonegoro and Yogyakarta were determined as geological cultural preserves, they would become Indonesia’s first two cities granted such status after the issuance of Energy and Mineral Resources Ministerial Regulation No.32/ 2016 on Geological Cultural Preservation.

“This year, we are also aiming to rank the national geoheritage potential,” she said.

A proposal to grant geoheritage status to Bojonegoro was conveyed to the Bandung Geology Agency on March 3. However, the proposal, which has been signed by Bojonegoro regent Suyoto, must be accompanied by an approval letter from East Java Governor Soekarwo.

“The governor’s approval letter can be directly conveyed to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry,” said Andiani.

Hanang Samudra, the head of the geoheritage verification team from the Bandung Geology Agency, said Bojonegoro’s geological potential met 100 percent of qualifications to be included in the national geoheritage rank. These include fossils, rock formations and other natural richness.

“To get international geoheritage status from UNESCO, it should be first granted national geoheritage status,” said Hanang. (rdi/ebf)

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