UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGp) are geoparks certified by the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council as meeting all the requirements for belonging to the Global Geoparks Network (GGN). The GGN is both a network of geoparks and the agency of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that administers the network.
The agency was founded in 2004 in partnership with the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). The network was set up to conserve Earth's geological heritage, as well as to promote the sustainable research and development by the concerned communities. To implement these goals they adopted the concept of geopark, a term that had already been in use for one of the proposed parks. Geoparks were conceived as "single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustainable development."