Years of over-exploitation and pollution have left UK coastal habitats degraded and fragmented, reducing their ability to support wildlife and healthy, resilient seas.
A new report published this week by Blue Marine, the University of Portsmouth, the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, University of Essex and Zoological Society of London showcases the ecosystem services that precious marine habitats provide and how the UK Government can protect and restore them to bring nature back to coastal areas.
The report highlights the intrinsic value of UK coastal habitats, and how long- term protection and restoration can be ensured. It demonstrates the benefits and ecosystem services provided by seagrass meadows, saltmarsh habitats, mudflats, oyster reefs and kelp forests but most importantly, how their ecological connectivity delivers healthy, resilient seas.
The living world is inherently dynamic with many connected systems that we depend on. Our marine coastal habitats are no exception, yet due to decades and centuries of diminishing and degrading them, we have lost sight of how the system works across the living seascape. This report takes the focus away from individual habitats to demonstrate why we need to restore both habitat complexity and connectivity if we are to meet our climate, biodiversity and human wellbeing goals.
Professor Jo Preston , Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Portsmouth
Professor Jo Preston from the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Portsmouth says: "The living world is inherently dynamic with many connected systems that we depend on. Our marine coastal habitats are no exception, yet due to decades and centuries of diminishing and degrading them, we have lost sight of how the system works across the living seascape. This report takes the focus away from individual habitats to demonstrate why we need to restore both habitat complexity and connectivity if we are to meet our climate, biodiversity and human wellbeing goals."
Ecological connectivity is an essential part of nature, necessary for the functionality of ecosystems, survival of wild animals and plant species and is crucial to ensuring genetic diversity and adaptation to climate change across all biomes and spatial scales. By protecting and restoring every feature of the seascape the UK can begin to efficiently harness the potential of 12,500km of coastline in mitigating climate change alongside protecting commercial fish stocks and delivering biodiversity benefits.
This report recommends to UK and devolved governments how best to implement the necessary policy changes to restore fragmented habitats and provide long term protection for the UK's incredible, biodiverse seascapes.
A copy of the report can be seen here.
