Brighton and Lewes Downs Biosphere: The Living Coast
The Living Coast embraces a wonderfully biodiverse stretch of the chalky South Downs and Sussex coast between the River Adur at Shoreham-by-Sea and the River Ouse at Newhaven and includes the vibrant city of Brighton & Hove and the historic town of Lewes. As the only UNESCO designated site in Sussex, this is a place where people connect with nature and live well together, enjoying, celebrating and reinvigorating the natural wonders of our shared home.
What makes this UNESCO Designation special?
Within The Living Coast, the chalk grasslands of the South Downs National Park meet the English Channel. This chalk block extends beneath the shingle beaches and the waves into the rare chalk reef of a Marine Conservation Zone. These geological features make The Living Coast a remarkably biodiverse region.
Accross this beautiful landscape in the heart of Sussex, chalk grasslands, dry chalk valleys, floodplain meadows, vegetated shingle beaches, river estuaries and chalk reefs are home to thousands of species, among them rare plants and wildlife. Gems as varied as the Adonis blue butterfly and the shy short-snouted seahorse, the early spider orchid and the skilful hovering skylark.
Of the 700+ UNESCO Biospheres worldwide, The Living Coast is one of a handful that includes a large urban area - Brighton & Hove. This gives The Living Coast an outstanding opportunity to support projects that pioneer ways to balance the daily needs of people and nature.
In everything The Living Coast does there’s a focus on learning how people and nature can flourish together for generations to come.
