An assessment on restoration of typical marine ecosystems in china – Achievements and lessons

Marine ecosystems are among China’s most valuable resources, providing a wide range of services and benefits to human and other species. However, the reclamation since 1950s and the explosion of industrialization and urbanization have created severe environmental problems along China’s vast coastline since late 1970s, and consequently marine ecosystems have been seriously stressed and degraded. In recent years, China has launched a series of restoration programs in order to preserve and restore the qualities of these attractive ecosystems. In this paper, three cases in marine ecosystem restoration (i.e. mangrove restoration in Quanzhou bay, bay ecosystem restoration in Wuyuan Bay of Xiamen and eutrophic semi-enclosed bay restoration in Xiamen western waters) were evaluated. The results, together with the brief assessment of practices in other coastal areas, showed that the major barriers for success are: (i) more comprehensive insights into ecological, socio-economic, political factors are necessary for setting-up clear project objectives and targets; (ii) more attention should be paid to ecological functions in order to restore the ecosystem’s values and benefits; (iii) more scientific processes need to be conducted to evaluate the causes for ecosystem degradation and predict the probability for natural recovery; and (iv) degradation causes diagnosis, restoration technologies and methods, monitoring strategies and techniques, assessment and evaluation, adaptive management and results dissemination should be all emphasized during the restoration efforts.