In June 2021 the United Nations announced the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration: “a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, for the benefit of people and nature”. Restoration, the campaign says, is “a proven measure to fight the climate crisis and enhance food security, water supply and biodiversity”.

The ecosystems targeted for restoration are myriad and varied. Although efforts have historically focused on terrestrial systems and the number of tree-planting projects is now booming, the number of marine restoration projects targeting saltmarshes, oyster reefs and coral reefs is also now rising. As well as helping to restore biodiversity and sequester carbon, such restoration projects can also help improve coastal resilience, which is crucial as extreme weather events become more frequent and sea levels rise.

“I spent the first 15 years of my career showing how things like nutrient pollution or climate change are destroying our marine ecosystems,” says Dr Bayden Russell, associate director at the Swire Institute of Marine Science, University of Hong Kong. “For the last seven years I’ve been looking at ways to improve the state of the ocean and restore its ecosystems.”

Read the full story at The Biologist.

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