Good news: Restoring coastal habitat boosts wildlife numbers by 61% – but we can still improve further

Humans’ Impact on Coastal Habitats and the Importance of Restoration

Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat — in the case of some types of habitat, most of it has gone.

Pollution, coastal development, climate change, and many other human impacts have degraded or destroyed swathes of mangrove forests, saltmarshes, seagrass meadows, macroalgae (seaweed) forests, and coral and shellfish reefs.

We’ve lost a staggering 85% of shellfish reefs around the world and coral is bleaching globally.

The Importance of Coastal Habitats and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

When healthy, these coastal habitats help feed the world by supporting fisheries. They are home to more than 100 species of charismatic marine megafauna, ranging from sharks to dugongs. They sequester carbon, thus helping to slow climate change. The list goes on.

Healthy coastal habitats are crucial for achieving several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 14: Life Below Water, SDG 13: Climate Action, and SDG 2: Zero Hunger.

The Importance of Restoring Coastal Habitats

Healthy coastal habitats are the gift that keeps on giving. We need them back, so there’s a lot of enthusiasm for restoring these habitats.

For example, we can plant mangroves, build new shellfish reefs, and reduce pollution to help seagrass grow back.

But we want to recover more than just the habitats. We want the animals they support too. We need to know if restoration is helping animals.

Assessing the Benefits of Restoration for Animals

We analyzed restoration projects around the world to assess how animals are benefitting. Compared to degraded sites, restored habitats have much larger and more diverse animal populations. Overall, animal numbers and the types of animals in restored habitats are similar to those in natural habitats.

So restoration works. But outcomes for animals vary from project to project. Not all projects deliver the goods. As a result, resources are wasted, and humanity misses out on the huge benefits of healthy coastal habitats.

Examples of Successful Restoration Projects

Some restoration projects have recorded dramatic increases in animal populations. For instance, after oyster reefs were restored in Pumicestone Passage, Queensland, fish numbers increased by more than ten times. The number of fish species increased almost fourfold.

Animals can occupy newly restored sites surprisingly quickly. Fish and invertebrate numbers in restored seagrass and mangroves can match those in natural sites within a year or two. This happens even though the vegetation is far sparser in restored areas.

Challenges and the Need for Improved Monitoring

Although restoration generally helps animals, good outcomes are not guaranteed. We found many projects where animal numbers or diversity barely increased. It was not clear why some projects were great for animals and others had lackluster results.

Some restoration sites could be in places where animals cannot easily find them.

In other cases, actions to restore the habitat may simply not work. Despite our best efforts, we failed to create suitable environments.

It could be that animals are returning to restored habitats, but we’re not capturing them with our monitoring.

We sorely need more consistent restoration outcomes. We may lose community support for restoration if, for example, it doesn’t deliver on promises of improved fisheries.

Global alliances and groups are developing standardized frameworks to guide restoration practice and to report on project designs and outcomes. Such strategies and coordination promise to deliver more consistent benefits.

The Role of New Technologies in Monitoring

Monitoring animals and restoration outcomes in coastal habitats is challenging. These aquatic habitats are structurally complex, often impenetrable and hard to navigate, and can be dangerous.

New technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and environmental DNA (goodgoodgood.co

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