Geodiversity is the range of rocks, fossils, minerals, soils, landforms and natural processes that make up the Earth's landscape and structure.

Along the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site, the greatest threat to the geodiversity is through the construction of coastal defences as these may interfere with natural processes and obscure the geological interests.

Abandoned structures and materials can degrade the quality of the Site but they do not destroy the interest.

Inappropriate fossil or specimen collecting is a potential threat to the World Heritage Site but due to the high natural rates of erosion in certain places, collecting effort is also essential in order to recover specimens that would otherwise be lost to erosion.

The core of the code is very simple and is principally aimed at experienced collectors.