The World Heritage Site has played an essential part in the development of the geological sciences over the last 250 years and today it remains just as important.

However, the science has moved on and the scope has expanded. Today, many of the ‘big questions' within the geological sciences are of a national or international scale. Sites across countries contain part of a wider jigsaw that records the evolution of our planet and life on earth. Some aspects of the science are becoming increasingly technical involving complex analytical procedures. Others, particularly geomorphology have highly applied aspects that relate to the management of the coast and the protection of the gateway towns from continued erosion.

Supporting the Earth sciences is an aspiration of the World Heritage Site Management Plan.

Follow the link to access the draft  jcwhs_research_strategy (136.20 Kb) for the Site.

An international conference 'Earth Heritage - World Heritage' hosted in Dorset September 2004

 A special meting of the Science and Conservation Advisory Network was held in July 2006 at the Natural History Museum, London, in order to explore ways to promote research. Unfortunately, due to a lack of funding, it has not been possible to direct resources in terms of staff time to this area of work at present, but the World Heritage Team are grateful for the contribution made by the people who attended the meeting and for the useful suggestions made at the time.
Read the  notes_on_the_scan_meeting_july_2006 (230.56 Kb)