Jul 17, 2026, Ling Meng

Under the dual pressures of human activities and climate change, global coastal ecosystems have generally deteriorated, making marine ecosystem restoration (MER) an important means to address the challenge. However, cross-regional and multi-MER projects involve a large number of restoration units with widely distributed spatial patterns and interrelated functions. Traditional engineering-scale assessment indicators are difficult to apply to the assessment of national overall restoration actions, and monitoring data are not easily accessible, leading to methodological bottlenecks in the comprehensive effectiveness evaluation of national and even global-scale restoration. Since 2016, a series of China's Marine Eco-environmental Restoration Programme (CMERP) have been implemented, covering various ecosystem types such as coastal wetlands, sandy beaches, and mangroves. However, systematic and comprehensive quantitative assessments have been lacking previously.

 

Addressing this issue, SARCCM at Ocean University of China, in collaboration with the National Disaster Reduction Center for Marine Disasters of the Ministry of Natural Resources of China, Ludong University, and the University of Tasmania, recently published research titled ‘National restoration initiatives promote China’s marine ecosystem recovery’ in Communications Earth & Environment. The study takes 81 CMERPs in China from 2016 to 2022 as examples. On this basis, an evaluation framework encompassing three dimensions: restoration stability, ecological benefits, and economic benefits, is constructed. The indicator weights are determined through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). For the first time, the Marine Ecological Restoration Effectiveness Index (MERE Index) is proposed (Fig. 1), and robustness tests are conducted on the index using indicators such as mean absolute deviation, mean rank shift, and correlation coefficient.

Fig. 1 Application of the MERE index to assess the CMERP.

Fig. 2 The prestandardization indicator values of CMERP include restoration stability, ecological benefits, and economic benefits.

The results showed that 81 CMERPs have cumulatively restored 15,423 hectares of salt marsh wetlands, equivalent to 23.99% of the total loss of salt marsh wetlands over the past 27 years (1984-2011). Additionally, 3,238 hectares of mangrove forests have been restored, representing 14.23% of the damaged mangrove forest area over the past 65 years (1950-2015). Within these 81 restoration areas, the natural shoreline retention rate doubled, increasing from 38.62% before restoration to 79.44% after restoration, gradually transforming fragmented artificial coasts into continuous natural coasts. Vegetation coverage significantly increased from 36.58% to 55.29%. The mangrove and salt marsh vegetation community structure continued to recover, initially forming a situation where artificial restoration drives natural recovery. The blue carbon storage capacity was significantly enhanced, with the total carbon accumulation rate in the restoration areas increasing by 94.85%, and the total annual carbon sequestration reaching 73438.87 Mg C. The socio-economic benefits were remarkable, with the total value of regional ecosystem services increasing by 41.71%, and the annual comprehensive ecological value reaching approximately 29.6 billion yuan (Fig. 2). However, CMERP are only a part of China's restoration efforts, and there are still many restoration actions by local governments and enterprises that have not yet been counted. These restoration actions will collectively promote China's ecological environment restoration and sustainable development.

 

This study has overcome methodological bottlenecks, providing a data-accessible, robustly indexed, and replicable evaluation framework for the comprehensive effectiveness assessment of MER across regions and multiple ecosystems. Meanwhile, by taking the excellent comprehensive effectiveness of China's national restoration actions as a case study, it offers a scientific reference for the comprehensive effectiveness assessment of restoration at regional and even global scales.

 

Paper Information:

Xiao Chen, Nan Wang, Xianwen Bao, Wen Wu, Xinping Chen, Ping Dong, Simon Williams, Jing Yu, Lingling Zhou, Yang Ding, Dehai Song. 2026. National restoration initiatives promote China’s marine ecosystem recovery. Communications Earth & Environment. doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03760-0.

Corresponding author: Nan Wang (E-mail: wangnan0515@ouc.edu.cn)

Link：https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-026-03760-0