The Municipality of Sežana, as the coordinator of the cross-border Kras–Carso Geopark initiative, participated in the 18th European Geoparks Conference, held from 16 to 18 September 2026 in Lappeenranta, Finland. The conference was organised by Saimaa UNESCO Global Geopark.
At the conference, we presented the aspiring Kras–Carso UNESCO Global Geopark and our experiences in the field of cross-border geoeducation. With the poster Building a Cross-Border School Network: From Shared Educational Activities to a Common Educational Module, we presented several years of collaboration among schools, students, teachers and experts from both sides of the Slovenian-Italian border. We also presented the further development of a common educational module for the geopark area within the framework of the KRAS–CARSO II project.
The central message of the presentation, “One Karst. Two countries. A shared learning space.”, summarises our efforts to connect bring the Classical Karst together as a shared space for learning, collaboration and the preservation of geological heritage. The educational module will build on the joint activities carried out so far and provide schools with content for learning about the Karst as a single cross-border area.
Participation in the conference was an important opportunity to exchange experiences with European UNESCO Global Geoparks, establish new contacts and present the Kras–Carso Geopark to the European Geoparks Network as preparations continue for submitting the application for UNESCO Global Geopark status.
