摘要：The Global Geopark Networks (GGN) created the concept of "geopark" as a
geographically designated area that contains geological, ecological, historical
cultural resources for community sustainable development primarily through
tourism activities. The Langkawi archipelago has always been rich in such resources
and heritage, and was conferred the geopark status by GGN in 2007. Since then, the
government and some private, non-governmental organisations have been involved
in many geopark projects and activities. Some of them are members of the top down
governance system while other parties work independently of one another. For
Langkawi to sustain in the long run as a successful and economically developed
geopark without the depletion of its geological, ecological, cultural and historical
resources, its governance system can be further improved. Effective custodian
participation is best achieved through proper governance network system whereby
the networks are established between at least two or more organisational and
non-organisational custodians irrespective of their social status, ethnicity, gender,
wealth and income levels. Specifically, the custodians should work closely together
and establish networks in a transparent, accountable, responsible, fair, trustworthy
and consistent manner. Effective participation should be in terms of shared norms
of behaviour such as cooperation, assistance and influence. Furthermore, such
effective participation is based on shared views, shared values, shared norms and
other shared aspects guided to some extend by basic network principles such as
reciprocity and mutuality. This implies that similarity or commonality is a key
feature in social networks formation of the custodians. Trust is also present as a network element. For Langkawi to sustain as a geopark in present and future times,
effective participation from all custodians can be achieved through governance
networks or social networks. This paper will present some findings from two
empirical studies conducted on effective governance networks for the success of
Langkawi as a geopark.
关键词：governance; governance networks; social networks; sustainability;
custodians
