Stronger Shores: Marine Habitats Protecting Coastal Communities

Risk Management Authorities (RMAs) in the UK are under increasing pressure to adopt more sustainable solutions to flood and coastal erosion hazards and increase resilience to risks exacerbated by climate change. Policy emphasises the growing role that nature based solutions must play in future management strategies to meet wider environmental objectives, including net zero carbon and environmental net gain. In the coastal environment, the ability to integrate habitat based interventions within policy and projects, is significantly hindered by an absence of robust data and guidance regarding the costs and benefits of inter-tidal and sub-tidal habitat restoration. This knowledge gap must be filled if opportunities to protect and restore these habitats are to be maximised and the associated benefits realised. The Stronger Shores project is working to address this need through undertaking associated research. This summary paper is intended to provide an early introduction to the project as it approaches the start of the delivery phase in Spring 2023.