THE Jurassic Coast needs help - more particularly it needs money.

Jurassic Coast World Heritage site manager Sam Rose from the The Jurassic Coast Trust team explained why.

He said: "Whether you walk here, play here, hunt for fossils or love the views, you can play your part. Financial gifts from the people who love this coastline increasingly make all the difference.

"At a time of public sector funding cuts, especially around the environment, the Jurassic Coast Trust needs the help of all those who love the Jurassic Coast to make a small contribution to the enormous task of looking after 95 miles of World Heritage Coastline.

"It's been a big year for the Jurassic Coast. With the support of our partners, we ran training events for teachers, inspiring understanding of this unique landscape. We welcomed new ambassadors and business partners into our community.

"We also helped to prevent the proposed Navitus Bay Wind Farm development, preserving the unspoiled view across the Purbeck skyline and setting an important precedent for how World Heritage is valued.

"A donation of £20, or whatever you can afford, can help us achieve even more in 2016. Or why not make a regular gift by direct debit?

"To thank you for your contribution, we will send everyone who donates a special “We Love the Jurassic Coast” car sticker."

Other incentives will include special monthly promotions and offers throughout the year, firstly a discounted membership for the Go Jurassic! Rangers kids' club. After that, there will be free or reduced rate parking and entry to coastal visitor centres, invitations to exclusive events, and discounts with its business partners.

The team has an onerous responsibility to protect the coastline from erosion, Mr Rose added.

He said: "It can be beautiful but also dangerous, a place for joy or disaster. To protect the Jurassic Coast effectively we have to understand both sides of the story.

"To begin with we can look specifically at protecting the rock exposures, fossils and natural landforms that form the basis of our World Heritage Status.

"One process underpins all of these – erosion. Erosion is the natural process by which the sea and elements wear away the land, from small rockfalls to enormous landslides. The coastline only exists because of erosion and over time it has created the iconic landforms that so many people know and love – Chesil beach, Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove, Ladram Bay. Erosion keeps the cliff face fresh and the unique rock record well exposed, and as the rocks are eroded new fossils are revealed. Protecting the Jurassic Coast means allowing the process of natural change to continue.

"However, people can often be wary of change, seeing it as bad or even threatening… and of course it sometimes is. Houses, roads, towns and villages can be put at risk from coastal erosion. Rocks falls, landslides and mudflows can put beach users in danger and can even be fatal.

"Protecting and conserving the coast is about balance. We need to protect and celebrate all the wonderful benefits that erosion brings, without it the Dorset and East Devon coast simply wouldn’t exist as we know it, but also accept that at times the risks it poses will be too great."

Given that, he said, new coastal defences may well be a necessary in some places, to safeguard coastal communities.

"Compromise is not unreasonable, but we can’t hold back the sea forever. Once we accept that erosion underpins the existence of this fabulous coastline we will be better prepared to defend it as a legacy for generations to come. In the long term do we want to see miles of concrete walls and rock armour?

"Our vision for the future is a wild and rugged coastline, majestic, beautiful, beloved by residents and visitors alike, overflowing with wildlife and ready reveal its ancient stories about our world."

£2 a month pays for an hour of for the Charmouth & Lyme Regis Fossil Warden, £4 a month pays for a day’s training for a Jurassic Coast Ambassador.

Donate through the website jurassiccoast.org.