Geodiversity for science and society

Geodiversity' defines the diversity of Earth's surface and subsurface, comprising features and processes across geology (including soil), hydrology and geomorphology (i.e.geodiversity elements).Geodiversity underpins the systems that support the living natural world: it is the steadfast, resolute partnership of humans and biodiversity, providing what the planet needs to support life and many materials we rely on in our daily lives.Its value is also inherent, with geoheritage sites enjoyed across the world.Humans have always had a close cultural connection with geodiversity and its elements, and its important role was highlighted in the 1990s in relation to 'geoindicators' 1.Yet it is only recently that the importance of considering geodiversity has been more widely and deeply discussed.This is not least because of emerging unsustainable human and natural changes that threaten geodiversity globally.While climate and biodiversity are now routinely included in international conventions and policy briefings (e.g. in the form of 'essential variables'), abiotic variables other than climate have been largely overlooked.This risks biased or inadequate policy and management decisions around surface and subsurface features and resources, as well as incomplete ecological analyses that may impair biodiversity conservation.To move these discussions forwards, we applied for Royal Society Hooke Theo Murphy funding for a meeting of international experts across several facets of geodiversity research.We were awarded the funding in 2019, hoping for a spring 2020 meeting, but we all know what happened then.Instead of transferring the meeting online, we decided to wait until we could