WATCH: Jersey is attempting UNESCO status

The aspiring Jersey Island Geopark is launching a campaign hoping to at secure UNESCO Global Geopark status.

Receiving the UNESCO Global Geopark status would 'put Jersey on the global map as a destination of exceptional geological, cultural, and environmental significance'.

Jersey's Geopark campaign, entitled 'A Symphony of Creation', builds support for the status bid and aims to shine a light on the island's 600-million-year story.

The team behind the campaign say it positions Jersey not just as a place of natural beauty, but as a living classroom, a cultural archive, and an example of sustainable tourism.

The campaign tells the story of an island forged by fire, ice and sea as conducted by Alex Conway, from the London Incidental Orchestra.

In the campaign, you will recognise La Couperon, Les Blanches Banques (the Sand Dunes), Plémont, Le Pulec, Devil’s Hole and Le Pinacle - all geosites.

The Jersey Geopark would include the island as well as our offshore reefs and territorial waters 12 miles out. 

The film brings Jersey's elements to life, set to the swell of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture

Paul Chambers, Head of Jersey Island Geopark, says the status would put Jersey on the global map:

"We are pursuing recognition from the United Nations, for our landscapes and natural history - those aspects of the island that sometimes as residents, we take for granted, but that people coming into the island are often amazed by.

"The bid will be put in this year through the UK, we will then have to go through an assessment process that will take around a couple of years to do.

"Hopefully, at the end of that, we will be part of the global group.

We are already, as a place putting a bid together, within the network and are forming links with Geoparks France and Canada and places like that.

"This will highlight Jersey's importance as somewhere that's got incredible landscapes, geology and culture."

A global Geopark celebrates an area’s cultural, physical and natural heritage. There are currently 229 UNESCO Global Geoparks in 50 countries. 

They were created in response to the need to conserve Earth’s geological history. 

The campaign is led by the Jersey Island Geopark team and supported by Visit Jersey and ArtHouse Jersey.