Saving UK coastlines18 July 2024 | Admin Saving UK coastlines  Last week, Athena Allen, Marine Ecologist at NatureBureau and I attended the annual Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) (pronounced “re-memory”) conference in Scarborough. Having spent the day before the conference on a train travelling up and across the country it was a refreshing delight to be able to start the first day of the conference with a swim in the sea – much to the surprise of many of our colleagues! And yet, what better way to begin than to be immersed in the environment that we are both so passionate about protecting and would over the next two days hear from so many others who are actively turning the tide on the biodiversity crisis. If you are not familiar with ReMeMaRe, it’s an ambitious habitat restoration initiative, so called, as it aims to address the shifting baseline and reverse centuries of decline of three of our priority estuarine and coastal habitats, seagrass meadows, saltmarshes and European native oyster (Ostrea edulis) reefs.
By restoring these precious estuarine and coastal ecosystems, the initiative is enhancing society’s connection to the natural world, while delivering Nature-based Solutions that address issues such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, sustainable food, health and well-being, as well as the socio-economic benefits of recreation and tourism that can help to alleviate deprivation in coastal towns. The ReMeMaRe conference always attracts a crowd, and this year was no different with more than 300 restoration practitioners, Government bodies, environmental Non-Government Organisations (eNGOs), industry and businesses, from across the UK coming together to share successes, failures, best practice and lastest research in coastal restoration science, practice, and policy. For Athena and I, it was a chance to catch up with colleagues old and new and to discuss latest research and projects in the pipeline. With so many like minded people coming together under the same banner I am confident that the tide can be turned, and I hope that like me, you’ll be watching ReMeMaRe with renewed interest. ReMeMaRe is greater than the sum of its parts, and by working together I hope that the larger-scale, ambitious projects at an ecosystem scale can be realised.
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In England, over recent centuries, we have lostseagrass meadows from up to 50% of the water bodies where it was once found, 85% of saltmarsh and 95% of native oyster reefs. This loss represents more than the loss of habitat and numerous species which rely upon them, but also the loss of the many benefits and services that they would provide to society. ReMeMaRe is changing that.
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