Marine and coastal restoration plan

12 Dec 2025 11:48 AM

This plan sets out actions to accelerate active restoration of habitats and species across Scotland and support communities interested in undertaking restoration.

Introduction

Thriving marine and coastal ecosystems provide many benefits, both to the people who interact with them and to the wider natural world. Scotland has an incredibly rich and diverse marine environment, which is one of the most important assets to our ecological and economic prosperity. Yet we are facing a twin climate and biodiversity crisis and our marine and coastal ecosystems are under increasing pressure from climate change, pollution, and historic degradation. To combat this decline, there is growing interest in undertaking marine and coastal nature restoration across Scotland, especially through activities that can be described as active restoration: the creation or reintroduction of habitats and species. Examples of this are restoring seagrass meadows, seeding native oysters and other shellfish, saltmarsh planting, replenishing sand dunes, planting trees along rivers to support salmon populations, seabird reintroduction, cold water coral restoration, and many others.

Restoration can provide a range of benefits:

Ecologically it supports ecosystem resilience through increased biodiversity and habitat provision e.g. nursery and feeding grounds. It could also contribute to climate mitigation and adaptation through supporting habitats that absorb and store carbon, and by improving coastal resilience and reducing flood risks.

Socially and economically, restoration can create local opportunities for volunteering, education, community access to and engagement with the marine and coastal environment, hospitality, and green jobs. These are all beneficial for supporting coastal communities and a just transition to a more sustainable marine economy; Scotland is unique in that most restoration projects currently taking place are community-led.

Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045 – Objective 1: To accelerate restoration and regeneration

The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy (SBS) recognises that we urgently need to accelerate and scale up efforts to drive landscape and seascape scale recovery. Active restoration can make a contribution to this recovery, which is why under the SBS Delivery Plan we committed to publishing a Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan that sets out how we intend to accelerate marine restoration in Scotland, including identifying actions to help prioritise habitats and locations suitable for restoration.

Click here for the full press release