Rebuilding self-sustaining marine ecosystems through coastal restorationHabitat Restoration, Rehabilitation & Enhancement

Ashley D Hemraj¹, Bayden Russell², Melanie Bishop³, Stefano Cannicci⁴, Rhian Evans², Peter Stærh¹, Jacob Carstensen¹

¹Aarhus University, Denmark - ²The University of Hong Kong, China - ³Macquarie University, Australia - ⁴University of Florence, Italy

Humans have used and exploited coastal ecosystems for millennia. Over time, the accumulation and impact of anthropogenic activities on these ecosystems have led to severe degradation. Therefore, multiple restoration programs have been initiated and supported by environmental organizations such as the IUCN, European Commission, and national and local entities. Nonetheless, several key restoration challenges remain:(1) restoration success is vaguely and variously defined, (2) few restoration projects have yielded or documented long-term self-sustaining ecosystem recovery, and (3) many focal ecosystems were exploited to functional extinction, leaving no historical baseline. Therefore, we performed a horizon scan study, involving 38 restoration scientists globally, to identify factors preventing the long-term self-sustained recovery of coastal ecosystems and to identify solutions to improve coastal restoration practice. We propose a perspective against which the recovery progress of restored ecosystems can be evaluated and consider some of the main ecological knowledge gaps that prevent the development of appropriate science-based restoration programs. We then identify the main challenges that need tackling to render restoration efforts more effective. Finally, we develop a framework for building restoration projects with an ecosystem-first approach rather than a budget-based restoration program. Overall, this study re-envisions the practice of coastal restoration with the aim of producing self-sustaining long-term recovery of coastal ecosystems globally.