Geoconservation should be incorporated in the discussions regarding climate change impacts on geoheritage degradation, especially in coastal areas that are directly affected by extreme climate events. The geoheritage degradation risk in protected areas of the Brazilian semi-arid coast was assessed using a quantitative method. A correlation with the tidal flooding hazard predicted with the climate change scenario was also considered for the study areas. The results show that most of the geosites assessed present a high risk of degradation due, mainly, to their exposure to negligence and inadequate public management regarding their uses. All geosites located in the plain areas are exposed to the risk of flooding by rising tides, which is associated with human action and leads to worrying scenarios regarding the loss of scientific and aesthetic values. The collected data support the need to rethink geoheritage management in protected areas and the mitigation of problems that may become major threats in conjunction with global climate change.

Coastal geoheritage is exposed to interacting natural and human pressures that require management approaches capable of linking degradation diagnosis with conservation responses. This study applies an integrated decision-support framework combining an established quantitative degradation-risk assessment with SWOT analysis to twelve coastal geosites located within three Portuguese protected areas. Degradation risk was assessed using eleven sub-criteria grouped into natural vulnerability, anthropogenic vulnerability and public use, while SWOT analysis characterized the broader protected-area management context. The two approaches were integrated without generating a composite index: risk class defined the relative urgency of management attention, the dominant standardized degradation component guided the primary response orientation, and relevant SWOT factors identified management conditions that may facilitate or constrain implementation. Nine geosites were classified as Medium risk and three as High risk, with total scores ranging from 8 to 20. Public use was the dominant component at seven geosites and natural vulnerability at five, whereas anthropogenic vulnerability was not dominant at any site. Sensitivity analysis indicated generally stable classifications, although two Medium-risk sites shifted to High under plausible one-point score variations. The framework translates complementary assessment results into site-specific management priorities and monitoring needs while maintaining the analytical distinction between geosite condition and protected-area management context.

A conservação e proteção do geopatrimônio das Unidades de Conservação é um fator de extrema importância, sendo necessário o controle dos riscos de degradação dessas áreas. Nesse contexto, esta pesquisa buscou realizar uma avaliação quali-quantitativa do risco de degradação do geopatrimônio da área de Genipabu, a partir da inventariação, do patrimônio geomorfológico e da aplicação da metodologia de Selmi et al (2022) para a avaliação quantitativa do risco de degradação presente neste geossítio. Além dos fatores naturais, como as mudanças climáticas e as dinâmicas e processos do meio físico, o local também é suscetível aos impactos antrópicos, que provém do uso público atrelado, principalmente, à atividade turística. Com os dados obtidos, fica exposta a necessidade de dar a devida atenção à gestão da área, para assim procurar realizar a mitigação dos problemas que, predominantemente estão associados à ocupação humana, mas que podem tornar-se uma maior ameaça associados às mudanças climáticas previstas para a região costeira.