Africa: Africa's Rocks Hold Ancient Stories. We Need Better Ways to Document and Protect Them

What the report says

Africa’s geological landmarks are carrying a great deal of scientific and cultural history, but a new analysis argues that many of them are still poorly recorded and unevenly protected. In an article published by The Conversation Africa and carried by AllAfrica on 9 September 2026, geoscientist Kamaldeen O. L. Omosanya points to places such as South Africa’s Vredefort Dome, Kenya’s Great Rift Valley lakes, Morocco’s M’Goun UNESCO Global Geopark and Tanzania’s Ngorongoro-Lengai landscape as examples of sites that preserve evidence of ancient climates, ecosystems, human origins and Earth processes.

The piece says the main problem is not a lack of heritage, but a lack of visibility. Many African countries do not have complete inventories of geological sites, and legal protection is described as inconsistent. Omosanya’s study of indexed research databases found that Africa accounted for fewer than 4% of geoheritage publications in the Scopus and Web of Science results he reviewed, with Morocco, Egypt, South Africa and Ethiopia appearing most often among African cases.

The article argues that digital tools such as mapping, drones, 3D modelling and virtual visits could help document fragile sites, support education and strengthen conservation. It cites projects including digital records for geosites at M’Goun and the African Fossils virtual laboratory in Kenya as examples of what is possible. It also says better training, shared standards and regional cooperation are needed to help governments, universities and conservation bodies protect sites that may otherwise be damaged by mining, construction or unmanaged tourism.