TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Toba Caldera Geopark in North Sumatra will soon improve its management and supporting facilities following a 'yellow card' warning from UNESCO.
The geopark received the notification from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Morocco in September 2023, as the geopark was deemed to have failed several management criteria and have inadequate supporting facilities.
Deputy for Destination and Infrastructure Development at the Ministry of Tourism, Hariyanto, stated that the site plan will be prepared by the Toba Caldera UNESCO Global Geopark Management Agency and the agency responsible for energy and mineral resources in North Sumatra Province.
Special Allocation Fund
He also explained that the government will utilize a special allocation fund amounting to Rp56.6 billion for the development of amenities and attractions in marine and non-marine natural tourist sites within the region. This fund can also be used to build amenities and attractions at cultural tourism sites in urban and rural areas across eight districts around Lake Toba.
"Specifically, support for geopark visibility is used to build a main gate to the geopark, geopark totems, and geopark interpretation boards at one of the geosites of the Toba Caldera Geopark, namely at the Silalahi Geosite in Sabungan, Diri Regency," he said when contacted by ANTARA from Jakarta on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.
The Ministry of Tourism, together with the Toba Caldera UNESCO Global Geopark Management Agency, will hold an international seminar on the Caldera Toba UNESCO Global Geopark on June 26, 2025, as part of the preparations for the revalidation of the UNESCO earth park management criteria.
Two-Month Improvement
General Manager of the Toba Caldera UNESCO Global Geopark Management Agency, Azizul Kholis, stated in a recent official statement in Jakarta that they need two months to make improvements, with a new assessment to be presented by UNESCO scheduled for July 15, 2025.
"The Governor of North Sumatra has shown great attention to bringing the Toba Caldera Geopark back to a green card status," he said.
Some key recommendations from UNESCO for improvement in order to regain the green card status include diversified geological heritage interpretations and expanded geological story surveys, further identification and inventory of natural, cultural, and man-made heritage, and collaboration in increasing interpretation panel visibility and geopark visibility, as well as networking and training to enhance collaboration with other geoparks in Indonesia.
Antara contributed to the writing of this article.
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