As the world meets to agree its latest plans to combat climate change at the UN Climate Change COP27, and others simultaneously meet in the often overlooked COP14 Ramsar discussions, WWT’s new Wetlands For Carbon Storage Route Map calls for the creation of at least 22,000 hectares of coastal saltmarsh by 2050 to help the UK government […]
A cross-party group of MPs has called for a tripling of the floating offshore wind target, from 5GW by 2030 to 15GW by 2035, a restoration of 30 per cent of UK saltmarshes and seagrass meadows by 2030, and greater ambitious for nature restoration targets. The ten point plan for climate and nature […]
The Environment Agency has released a research report, ‘The extent and zonation of saltmarsh in England 2016 – 2019’ The report examines the overall picture of change in saltmarsh extent in England over a decade: 2006-2009 to 2016-2019. In 2011, the Environment Agency published the first saltmarsh national inventory mapped from aerial imagery captured between 2006 […]
Ørsted is partnering with Lincolnshire and Yorkshire Wildlife Trusts to help restore the biodiversity around the Humber Estuary. This flagship project will invest more than £2.5m to restore parts of the Humber on an ambitious scale not seen before, through the planting of 3 hectares (ha) of saltmarsh and 4 ha of seagrass, and the […]
Three new environmental handbooks set out best practice for coastal restoration projects. Three new environmental handbooks that set out guidance for the first time of how to carry out best practice estuarine and coastal habitat creation projects across the UK and Ireland have been published. The handbooks provide practical guidance on restoring and creating estuarine […]
Restoration potential maps have been developed to provide a national ‘high level’ indication of where intertidal and subtidal seagrass, native oysters and saltmarsh could potentially be restored based on some key physical attributes. The maps are accessible on the Coastal Data Explorer portal hosted by the Rivers Trust that is being developed as part of […]
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is currently going through the process of marine planning for English marine waters. During consultations, stakeholders expressed a desire for a national dataset to be developed to identify sites suitable for coastal and marine habitat creation or restoration. ABPmer were commissioned to help develop such a dataset and identify which […]
A generalisable integrated natural capital methodology for targeting investment in coastal defence Katrina Davis & colleagues Coastal ecosystems, such as saltmarsh, produce a range of ecosystem services that underpin human well-being. In the UK, and globally, saltmarsh extent and quality is declining due to coastal squeeze, deteriorating water quality, and agricultural activities. Here, we develop […]