Restoring Coastlines: Nature-Based and Hybrid Approaches to Coastal Protection and Ecosystem Recovery

Coastal ecosystems — mangroves, saltmarshes, seagrass meadows, kelp beds, oyster and coral reefs, and dune systems — are being lost or degraded faster than they recover on their own. Their decline removes habitat, reduces biodiversity, weakens carbon storage, and erodes the ecosystem services that coastal communities depend on. Restoration has moved from isolated pilot projects to a global commitment under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which targets 30% of degraded ecosystems under effective restoration by 2030. Meeting that commitment requires more than planting or placement: it requires knowing which ecological functions actually return, how fast, under what conditions, and whether recovery holds.

The evidence base remains uneven. Many projects report area treated or units planted rather than ecological outcome. Survival is often measured over months, when habitat structure, species assemblages, trophic function, and carbon accumulation develop over years to decades. Failures are underreported, reference conditions are inconsistently defined, and success criteria vary so widely that comparison across sites and biomes is difficult.

This Research Topic focuses on the ecological recovery of degraded coastal ecosystems and the evidence needed to make restoration succeed at scale. We seek contributions that measure biodiversity and ecosystem-function outcomes, follow recovery trajectories over meaningful timescales, define reference conditions and success criteria, and examine the ecological, social, and governance conditions under which recovery is sustained. Studies reporting partial or failed recovery are explicitly welcome — they carry as much information as successes.

We welcome contributions addressing, but not limited to:

- Ecological recovery of coastal habitats: mangroves, saltmarsh, seagrass, kelp, oyster and coral reefs, and dune and beach vegetation — recruitment, survivorship, succession, and the development of habitat structure.

- Biodiversity and ecosystem-function outcomes: species assemblages, trophic structure, habitat connectivity, nursery function, and genetic diversity and provenance in restoration.

- Blue carbon and ecosystem services: carbon accumulation and permanence, nutrient cycling, water quality, fisheries support, and valuation of recovered services.

- Restoration ecology methods and practice: species and genotype selection, substrate and- hydrological restoration, assisted recovery, adaptive management, and mitigation of the stressors that caused degradation in the first place.

- Long-term monitoring and evaluation of recovery: reference conditions, success criteria and indicators, recovery trajectories, field and remote-sensing assessment of ecological state, and honest reporting of partial or failed outcomes.

- Governance, communities, and scaling: community-led and Indigenous-led restoration, co-management and stewardship, equity in the distribution of restoration benefits, financing mechanisms, and the policy frameworks that turn projects into durable ecosystem recovery.

We welcome original research, reviews, long-term datasets, and critical syntheses. Contributions should report ecological outcomes rather than implementation activity alone, and make their broader transferability clear.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: coastal habitat restoration, nature-based solutions, mangroves, saltmarshes and reefs, ecosystem-based coastal protection, conservation outcomes, climate resilience

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.