Geosites recognition and geosystem services assessment in Alagna Valsesia (Monte Rosa, W-Alps, Italy): a sustainable development perspective for an Alpine Geopark

In the last century, mountain regions have been deeply influenced by human activities and global drivers of change, resulting in huge alterations and reinterpretation of the balance of these environments (Egan & Price, 2017). Demanding the need to devise new preservation strategies to support mountain regions. Numerous research has been carried out within the Sesia Val Grande UNESCO Global Geopark (UGGp) to recognize and classify geosites and geoheritage sites to enhance and preserve places of significant geological, geomorphological, historical, cultural, or artistic value and to promote geotourism (Tognetto et al., 2021). Until now, 68 geosites have been classified and mapped (Perotti et al., 2020). In this framework, we concentrated in the highest elevation area of the Sesia Val Grande UGGp. Here we examined available data to recognize the geosites within the municipality of Alagna Valsesia and assessed the role of geosites in providing various geosystem services. Landcover maps have been produced by remote sensing analysis to establish the change detection analysis and help understand the changing dynamics of the environment. Regulating, provisioning, knowledge, cultural, and supporting geosystem services have been identified and mapped in the GIS environment, with a broad view on evolutionary scenarios of human-nature interactions. The mapping assessment shows the critical evaluation of the benefits offered by the study area and the vulnerability caused by natural events to the man-made infrastructure development. This approach provides the basis for understanding the natural and human-induced threats to geodiversity and aids in formulating strong planning and management strategies for the Sesia Val Grande UGGp and for sustainable development of human exploited and naturally vulnerable mountain regions. This approach also makes it possible to understand where geoheritage is present and to foster enhancement of sustainable geotourism destinations.