Assessment of the effectiveness of coastal restoration measures

The project aims to enable more effective planning of coastal restoration projects that can help ensure that various measures, when combined, are as effective and appropriate as possible.

Sweden’s marine environments are in dire need of action and restoration—all coastal and marine habitat types have either poor or inadequate conservation status according to official assessments. Large-scale impacts from eutrophication, overfishing, and physical disturbances are some of the reasons, and many habitats are affected by combinations of these factors. Although various restoration efforts are already underway, they are often fragmented, limited in scope, and take a long time. There is a lack of a coordinated strategy to evaluate, coordinate, and streamline restoration work across stakeholders and geographically, which poses a risk of unnecessary and costly delays in achieving set goals.

The project aims to enable more effective planning of coastal restoration projects that can help ensure that various measures, when combined, are as effective and appropriate as possible. Our focus is on identifying suitable, effective courses of action and restoration objectives for different types of key environments along the Swedish coast, from the Bothnian Bay to the Skagerrak. We do this by developing, adapting, and using so-called key performance indicators, which can demonstrate and evaluate how well various restoration measures work in light of ecological, social, and economic perspectives and priorities. The indicators also allow for comparability between different restoration projects regarding their overall effectiveness.

The methods we develop and apply can support better planning and monitoring of restoration projects based on local considerations, while also providing a picture of how restoration goals can be achieved on a broader national scale. We develop proposals for indicators based on a synthesis of scientific studies, which we further refine in dialogue with various stakeholders. We then use the indicators to analyze different types of restoration projects, including both passive and active measures, for a selection of underwater environments along the coast. We also combine the results with map-based analyses to identify underwater environments and geographic areas that have high potential for significant ecological value and effective response to restoration measures according to ecological, social, and economic criteria. In this way, restoration efforts can be targeted at areas that provide the greatest benefit to nature and society. The results are presented, among other things, in a digital toolkit that provides local and national users with guidance on which methods may be most relevant and effective for their specific location and situation. The maps of natural values produced in the project will provide important knowledge for the sustainable planning of our coastal environments, where so-called hotspot maps show where restoration measures would be most beneficial. The knowledge and information developed will help prioritize efforts to improve the marine environment at the local and national levels, and enable Sweden to meet the requirements of the new Nature Restoration Regulation.

SLU is the lead partner for the project. Contact persons at Luleå University of Technology are listed below.