The Jurassic Coast’s OUV and setting as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

In 1972, the World Heritage programme was created by UNESCO to link together international conservation efforts to conserve and protect natural and cultural heritage of global importance.

To guide this work, an international treaty was written, called the World Heritage Convention, which provides countries with a framework for how to identify and conserve sites of international importance.

Irrespective of the territory on which they are located, World Heritage Sites are places that belong to all peoples of the world; they are irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration.

Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) is the conceptual thread that connects all these places together regardless of where they are and what the heritage value is. For properties to demonstrate OUV, they should be exceptional or in other words, one of the most remarkable places on earth. 

A Global Family

Today, there are 1,154 World Heritage Sites across the world, with the majority (897) falling into the Cultural heritage sector.

The Jurassic Coast sits in a unique place within that global family, and is listed under Criteria VIII:

“To be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features” - UNESCO World Heritage Criteria VIII.

Selection Criteria

There are ten selection criteria which World Heritage Sites are measured against. Each country must support their nomination with documents that detail how their site will be managed and conserved, and an assertion for that site to be recognised as demonstrating OUV. Read our nomination document here. 

Cultural sites are measured against six criteria and natural sites have four. In some cases, sites may exhibit both, cultural and natural OUV, and these are designated in a separate category as Mixed sites.

Each year the World Heritage Committee, who oversee the World Heritage Programme, meet to discuss new nominations, properties that are at risk, and those sites that are experiencing degradation.

Our Responsibility as a World Heritage Site

The Jurassic Coast Trust has the responsibility to ensure that this extraordinary site is conserved and protected for everyone across the world.

Our role is to help local communities in particular to understand and value the significance of the geological heritage along this coastline.

It is our mission to protect this extraordinary legacy from the past; it is what we live with today and what we will pass onto future generations.

Outstanding Universal Value

The Jurassic Coast is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a jewel in the crown of the world’s natural places. It was designated in 2001 and remains England's only natural World Heritage Site.

Every World Heritage Site has a statement of OUV that describes the reasons why the designation has been applied.

A brief summary of the OUV statement for the Jurassic Coast is given here:

“The Dorset and East Devon Coast has an outstanding combination of globally significant geological and geomorphological features. 

Along 155 km of largely undeveloped coast, the Site’s geology displays approximately 185 million years of the Earth’s history, including a number of internationally important fossil localities. 

The Site also includes outstanding examples of coastal landforms and processes and is renowned for its contribution to earth science investigations for over 300 years. Given its geological and paleontological significance, this coast is considered to be one of the most significant Earth Science teaching and research sites in the world”. 

Setting of the World Heritage Site

In addition to OUV, another key concept for the World Heritage Site is its 'setting’. This recognises that the surrounding landscape is key to how people experience the Site itself.

For the Jurassic Coast, setting is described as:

“The surrounding landscape and seascape, and concerns the quality of the cultural and sensory experience surrounding the exposed coasts and beaches. 

Although factors such as natural beauty, wildlife, and cultural heritage are not included in the World Heritage designation, they are an important part of its setting and for visitor’s experience. Furthermore, geology underpins many of these other features, meaning the Jurassic Coast can act as a unifying story for the broader heritage values of the Dorset and East Devon coastline”. 

History of World Heritage Status for the Jurassic Coast

World Heritage status is not automatically given to a Site by the UK Government or the United National Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). All World Heritage Sites must be able to make a clear case for Outstanding Universal Value in order to be inscribed on the World Heritage List and that final decision is made by the World Heritage Committee.

"The Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site... holds outstanding evidence of the natural history of Earth and its processes.” - UNESCO inscription of the Jurassic Coast as a World Heritage Site (2001).

In Dorset and East Devon, the possibility that the coast could qualify for World Heritage status was first raised in public by Professor Denys Brunsden at a Lyme Bay Forum meeting in 1994. Support for the idea was given by Dorset and Devon County Councils and a Scientific Working Group was established comprising representatives of Councils, Universities, the British Geological Survey, Wildlife Trusts, and Government agencies.

In 1998, a Statement of Intent by Dorset and Devon County Councils and the Dorset Coast Forum was published and sent to the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) with the aim of getting the proposal included in the Government’s new Tentative List for UNESCO.

The proposal was finally included in the DCMS Tentative List in June 1999 and nomination documents and a Management Plan were prepared and submitted to UNESCO in June 2000. After an assessment visit in February 2001 by IUCN, UNESCO’s technical advisors for natural World Heritage Sites, the Dorset and East Devon Coast was inscribed on the World Heritage List in Helsinki on December 13th, 2001.

The designation and success of the subsequent programme of activities is a reflection of the outstanding contribution made by the organisations and individuals represented on the Steering Group that formulated the original Management Plan and that has subsequently overseen the work programme.