The Impact of Climate Change on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site

The inherent beauty of the World Heritage Site is largely a result of change caused by climatic changes and erosion over millions of years.  We would not seek to stop the natural evolution of the coast, even to protect iconic features that we know of the coast today. After all, there would have been a considerable number of equally iconic features that were celebrated and subsequently lost over the years. And it is within this loss and change that creates and unearths new landmarks and iconic features, supporting the diversity of the coast and its landforms. We have to embrace that change in order to find out what marvels it creates or reveals next. Yet we can proactively  respond  to things which can and should be within our control.

Natural climate change and erosion are an integral part of the Jurassic Coast Story. The World Heritage Site has been and continues to be shaped by the impact of climate change. Human influence has, however, accelerated the impact of climatic changes beyond their natural progression, raising concerns about the future of the Site. 

By the time children leaving school now are taking their children to the beach, the Ammonite Graveyard on the Jurassic Coast could be lost completely. 

Natural break-up of the ledges on Monmouth beach since 2011 has seen a huge part of the iconic ammonite graveyard, near Lyme Regis, lost to the sea

Sea levels along the Jurassic Coast are rising at a pace accelerated by human action. Higher sea levels means increased erosion rates. As you may have seen with the increasing amount of landslides and rockfalls in recent years. Without action, access to parts of the World Heritage Site and some of its unique iconic features that exist, such as the ammonite graveyard (alternatively known as the ammonite pavement), may be reduced or lost altogether at a more rapid pace than anticipated. 

The popular scenic South West coast path route has been re-routed at times because of this and is vulnerable to future changes and losses. In some places, erosion could also lead to the migration of the World Heritage Site out of mapped Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) units and the statutory protection they provide. 

But as well as threats, there are also opportunities. The fossils of the Jurassic Coast are evidence of past environmental change and subsequent extinction events, adding context and substance to the implications of the current climate and biodiversity crisis. This provides a unique opportunity to understand climate change across Earth’s history as well as revealing ways of adapting to current coastal change in order to preserve so much of what is special about the coast (its geology, fossils, habitats, landforms and natural beauty). 

We hope this can help catalyse discussion and action. 

So what can we do? 

The various potential impacts are ultimately driven by carbon (C02) emissions making a huge difference to the rate of sea level rise. An increase in carbon dioxide and other ‘greenhouse gases’ leads to increased water temperature and expansion, thereby causing sea levels to rise. 

Ultimately, carbon dioxide levels impact the evolutionary trajectory of many species too. Seas and oceans absorb roughly a quarter or all the  CO2 that humans create. When the oceans contain too high a level of carbon dioxide, this causes ocean acidification. Geological and palaeontological records on the Jurassic Coast are testament to the devastating impact ocean acidification has on marine life. Previous periods of natural climatic changes with ocean acidification have led to mass extinctions over several millions of years. Human accelerated change appears to be having a similar effect.

However, there are ways we can help to slow this process!

Ultimately government and local authorities policies together with our own individual action can help to slow sea level rise. We all have the ability to make small changes to protect the health of our environment for us and for our children and grandchildren. 

We, as an organisation, will continue to engage local councils & businesses as well as individual communities, around the need to reduce their environmental impact and for each stakeholder within the Jurassic Coast partnership to make their own appropriate commitments in this regard.

More widely, as part of measures to combat climate change, the pressure to create more green energy developments such as wind farms may increase. Such developments would contribute to the mitigation of climate change impacts and would be in line with certain UN Sustainable Development Goals (Affordable

and Clean Energy; Climate Action). Previous green energy development has been resisted along the WHS due to potential negative impacts on its Outstanding Universal Value and setting. 

It is now important that our partnership seeks to balance the need to protect the Site alongside our commitment to the UN Sustainability Goals.

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What Jurassic Coast means to people in the area?

The Jurassic Coast means lots of different things to different people: millions of years of earth history with unique and scientifically important fossils, a space for families to enjoy visiting and exploring and also a place where people live, work and create their lives. 

A prime example of the situation can be seen on the ammonite pavement. The ammonite pavement is visible at low tide on Monmouth beach, Lyme Regis has been slowly eroding away for thousands of years.  At the current pace of erosion, caused largely by an increase in storminess, large sections of the ammonite pavement are being broken up and lost to the sea at an alarming rate. With this current rate of change, the well known exposure of the ammonite graveyard will have completely broken up within the next ten years. However, as these beds extend below the other ledges and into the cliff, more could emerge too as the entire foreshore there continues to evolve.

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Collective action is the key 

Inevitably, with change comes loss, but the beauty that arises from the dynamic nature of the coast is itself something worth fighting for.

The Jurassic Coast Trust seeks to work with communities to protect the global value of the World Heritage Site in a sustainable way. We all have a role to play in our own fight against climate change and there are many things that each of us as individuals and as organisations can do to achieve this goal. 

In the years to come sustainable tourism, reduction of our carbon footprints and the relationship between renewable energy developments and the Jurassic Coast will be vital subjects for both discussion and, crucially, action. By joining together, we can make the Jurassic Coast a fantastic place for years to come.