Coastal restoration from Svalbard in the North to Madeira in the south
CLIMAREST is an EU-funded research project consisting of 18 partners from along the length of the European coastline. The project belongs to the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters, and is a member of the Lighthouse for the Arctic and Atlantic Basin.
Towards marine coastal restoration
Marine ecosystems are currently threatened by anthropogenic direct and indirect pressures, and ecosystem stress is expected to increase over the next few decades, leading to a decline in biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services that ultimately affect the climate change tolerance of coastal communities.
Ecological restoration is necessary to assist in the recovery of ecosystems that have been degraded or destroyed, however, unlike land restorations, marine restorations are less well-known and less widely implemented along European coastlines.
CLIMAREST seeks to develop and demonstrate restoration tools and activities at five demonstration sites across Europe, from Svalbard in the high north to Madeira in the south.
The project contributes to the promotion of sustainable restorations by bridging the gap between research and restoration actions with an open tool that will link knowledge and practice.
By achieving this, it will provide relevant actors with the tools they need to implement restoration plans, and thus enhance their efforts’ long-term success and replicability. Further, CLIMAREST directly addresses some of the main challenges that have faced the operationalization of marine restoration actions, such as scarcity of data and information sources, low awareness and engagement among stakeholders and the general public, unreliable quantification of costs and benefits and ineffective dissemination of success stories, so as to maximize restoration success.
Read more about the project here.