Science and policy needs for effective ecosystem protection and restoration in Europe to build climate resilience

This presentation draws on key scientific and policy recommendations from the EMB Position Paper on ‘Building Coastal Resilience in Europe’, Future Science Brief ‘Marine Habitat Mapping’, Policy Brief ‘Blue Carbon: Challenges and Opportunities to Mitigate the Climate and Biodiversity Crises’, and Position Paper ‘Navigating the Future VI’ towards meeting the conservation and restoration targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework.

The protection and restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems are important Nature-based Solutions to build climate resilience through coastal protection, and blue carbon sequestration and storage. However, these must be planned and managed effectively, be able to persist in the face of sea-level rise and storms, and enough space and time must be allocated. In addition, critical knowledge gaps must be filled on their feasibility and benefits including site-specific research on which coastal habitats and species provide coastal protection and under which conditions, the amount of Blue Carbon removed and stored by Blue Carbon ecosystems, and on technological improvements to scale-up restoration efforts. Co-benefits, including for biodiversity and the creation of space for recreation and tourism, need to be better described, promoted and monetised so that they can be taken into account within management. It is important to consider the cost-effectiveness of restoration initiatives compared to taking no action and the future costs of losing natural resources from overexploitation to help justify investments.

Scaling-up the protection and restoration of coastal ecosystems requires effective marine spatial planning which must take a holistic approach that considers the land and sea as a single, dynamic socio-ecological system, and with policies that are coherent across all economic sectors. Links between marine- and land-based policies need to be improved, including the inclusion of all aspects of the land-sea interface in the EU’s Integrated Maritime Policy. Holistic, adaptive coastal management plans are needed that should consider the ongoing liveability of coastal areas in the face of ongoing changes, moving away from a focus on singular issues such as erosion or flooding. The participation of local communities in coastal management and the implementation of Nature-based Solutions should be improved as these are key actors in the success of protection and restoration initiatives.

In addition, accurate and extensive marine habitat maps that include more information on biodiversity are important tools for the effective design of protection and restoration initiatives. They enable identification of where habitats are, how big they are, their connectivity, and their ecological status so that marine protected areas can accurately represent ecological processes. They are also needed to be able to plan and spatially prioritize active restoration interventions, and to document and monitor the location and extent of degraded habitats in need of restoration.