Geoparks in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland earn official UN designations

Two geological parks in Atlantic Canada have earned special status from the United Nations.

The Cliffs of Fundy in Nova Scotia and the Discovery Geopark in eastern Newfoundland were both designated Global Geoparks Friday by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

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UNESCO says global geoparks are places that offer visitors a glimpse of exceptional geological heritage.

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The Cliffs of Fundy Geopark stretches 125 kilometres, with about 40 designated sites from Debert, N.S., to the Three Sisters cliffs past Eatonville, N.S. – and out to Isle Haute in the Bay of Fundy.

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The site is well known for having the world’s highest tides, Canada’s oldest dinosaur fossils and stunning landscapes steeped in Mi’kmaq and Acadian legends.

The Discovery Geopark, located on the upper half of Newfoundland’s Bonavista Peninsula, contains some of the earliest fossils of animal life, with rock dating back more than a half-billion years.