Bright Spots in Coastal Marine Ecosystem Restoration

Affiliations

¹ CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Queensland Biosciences Precinct, St Lucia, QLD, Australia; Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School for Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia; Centre for Marine Socioecology, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Hobart, TAS, Australia. Electronic address: megan.saunders@csiro.au.
² CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Queensland Biosciences Precinct, St Lucia, QLD, Australia.
³ CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Queensland Biosciences Precinct, St Lucia, QLD, Australia; Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School for Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia; eResearch Services, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
⁴ CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, Crawley, WA, Australia.
⁵ Centre for Marine Science and Innovation, School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, NSW, Australia; Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW, Australia.
⁷ The Nature Conservancy Australia, Carlton, VIC, Australia; TropWATER, The Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia.
⁸ Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC, USA.

PMID: 33352137
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.10.056

Free article

Review

Bright Spots in Coastal Marine Ecosystem Restoration

Megan I Saunders et al. Curr Biol. 2020.

Free article

. 2020 Dec 21;30(24):R1500-R1510.

doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.10.056.

Affiliations

¹ CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Queensland Biosciences Precinct, St Lucia, QLD, Australia; Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School for Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia; Centre for Marine Socioecology, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Hobart, TAS, Australia. Electronic address: megan.saunders@csiro.au.
² CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Queensland Biosciences Precinct, St Lucia, QLD, Australia.
³ CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Queensland Biosciences Precinct, St Lucia, QLD, Australia; Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School for Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia; eResearch Services, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
⁴ CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, Crawley, WA, Australia.
⁵ Centre for Marine Science and Innovation, School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, NSW, Australia; Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW, Australia.
⁷ The Nature Conservancy Australia, Carlton, VIC, Australia; TropWATER, The Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia.
⁸ Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC, USA.

PMID: 33352137
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.10.056

Abstract

The United Nations General Assembly calls for ecosystem restoration to be a primary intervention strategy used to counter the continued loss of natural habitats worldwide, while supporting human health and wellbeing globally. Restoration of coastal marine ecosystems is perceived by many to be expensive and prone to failure, in part explaining its low rates of implementation compared with terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, marine ecosystem restoration is a relatively new field, and we argue that assessments of its potential to answer this call should not rely on typical outcomes, but also to learn from successful outliers. Here, we review successful restoration efforts across a suite of metrics in coastal marine systems to highlight 'bright spots'. We find that, similar to terrestrial systems, restoration interventions can be effective over large spatial expanses (1,000s-100,000s ha), persist for decades, rapidly expand in size, be cost-effective, and generate social and economic benefits. These bright spots clearly demonstrate restoration of coastal marine systems can be used as a nature-based solution to improve biodiversity and support human health and wellbeing. Examining coastal marine restoration through a historical lens shows that it has developed over a shorter period than restoration in terrestrial systems, partially explaining lower efficiencies. Given these bright spots and the relative immaturity of coastal marine ecosystem restoration, it is likely to advance rapidly over the coming decades and become a common intervention strategy that can reverse marine degradation, contribute to local economies, and improve human wellbeing at a scale relevant to addressing global threats.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interests Christopher Doropoulos is a core member of, and receives funding from, the Great Barrier Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (https://www.gbrrestoration.org/core-team).

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Bright Spots in Coastal Marine Ecosystem Restoration

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Bright Spots in Coastal Marine Ecosystem Restoration

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Conflict of interest statement

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