February 20, 2009
Bowling
Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University geography professor Chris Groves is at the headquarters of 
the United Nations Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) in Paris this week reporting on ongoing international efforts to study and protect karst water resources.
Karst regions are those in which dissolution of soluble limestone bedrock has created such features as caves, sinkholes and underground rivers such as those common in south central Kentucky. There are often significant water supply challenges in these areas, while they have been estimated to supply more than a quarter of the world’s population with drinking water.
The Scientific Board of UNESCO’s International Geoscience Program meets this week, and Groves will summarize the nearly 20-year history of UNESCO’s support of four karst-related projects that have worked to coordinate international communication among scientists studying these systems. These efforts culminated in 2008 with the establishment of the UNESCO-affiliated “International Research Center for Karst” in Guilin, China.
While at UNESCO, Groves also is meeting with officials of the World Heritage Program to discuss ongoing efforts to develop beneficial relationships between WKU, Mammoth Cave National Park and other World Heritage sites in China and Europe.
Before the meetings in Paris, Groves is visiting colleagues at the Slovenian Karst Institute, a major research center for the study of karst resources, which has evolving ties to WKU and Mammoth Cave National Park. Slovenia’s Kras region is home to what many consider to be the world’s most classic karst landscape; the word karst itself has its origins here.
Several scientists from the institute have visited WKU and Mammoth Cave, and several WKU student groups have traveled there. This week the colleagues spent several days meeting with cave management officials and visiting field sites, including the spectacular Škocjanske Cave. Like Mammoth Cave, the Škocjanske Cave has been designated by the United Nations as a World Heritage Site.
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu and at http://wkunews.wordpress.com/. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Chris Groves at (270) 745-5974.
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