This article is originally by Dr Richard Lilley of The Seagrass Consortium

As the third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) convenes in Nice, France, it feels timely to update on the progress of The Seagrass Consortium’s mission to bring together the European seagrass community around a vision of the ‘scaling up’ the restoration of Europe’s four native seagrass species.

Closing conference of the LIFE IP MarHa project in Marseille (1-2 April 2025)

At the beginning of April the closing conference of the LIFE IP MarHa project was held in Marseille. The LIFE Integrated Project MarHa was a quite incredible undertaking, running from 2017-2025 the project’s goal was to improve the conservation status of the marine habitats in France listed in Annex 1 of the Habitats Directive by 2025 for over 150 Natura 2000 sites!

A key output from this project is a technical note (It’s available in both English and French) and is dedicated to the restoration of benthic habitats in coastal marine environments. It presents a brief review of the theoretical concepts relating to the subject and the European regulation on nature restoration adopted in 2024, including feedback on various projects carried out in France, such as the deployment of innovative moorings, the fight against invasive species, the removal of end-of-life boats and macro-waste, the transplanting and seeding of seagrass and macro-algae to name but a few.

For those working in the coastal seascape restoration space it’s definitely a worthwhile read, with a critical analysis of the projects presented, drawing conclusions about their benefits and limitations.

The 2nd European Seagrass Restoration Workshop in Arcachon (8-10 April 2025)

The 2nd European Seagrass Restoration Workshop was a great success, and huge thanks must go to the incredible team at Parc naturel marin du Bassin d’Arcachon (PNMBA) for hosting the event. With 211 delegates in attendance, ESRW2 represents a significant growth in the size of the seagrass restoration community since the 1st European Seagrass Restoration Workshop that was hosted in Portugal in 2010 (30 delegates).

The European Seagrass Restoration Alliance (ESRA) community’s ambition now is to emulate the success of the Native Oyster Restoration Alliance (NORA) in fostering collaboration at the European scale. For those who are unaware, NORA is an existing European network aiming at reinforcement and restoration of the native European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis). Network members are representatives of governmental agencies, science, non-governmental organizations, as well as oyster growers and other private enterprises. NORA was established during the international workshop on oyster restoration that was held in Berlin in November 2017.

As a summary ESRW2 ran over three days:  ‘Day - 1 Past, Present and Future’ was a reflection on what seagrass restoration activities have achieved to date, what’s happening across Europe right now, and what are the key challenges and opportunities on the horizon. It was particularly timely to hear from SER Europe with respect to the EU’s Nature Restoration Regulation and how we can engage in the process of supporting the development of National Restoration Plans.

It was also a real privilege to listen to keynote speaker Dr. Marieke M. van Katwijk who reflected on her pioneering research into seagrass restoration in the Dutch Wadden Sea - work she started in 1989 and continues to this day! Marieke has been a pillar of our community, and in 2015 she led a Global analysis of seagrass restoration which revealed that the successful regrowth of the foundation seagrass species often requires crossing a minimum threshold of reintroduced individuals, highlighting the importance of large-scale planting efforts.

‘Day 2 - Mechanisms For Change’ consisted of plenaries that addressed key cross-cutting themes (e.g. the role of genetic diversity in seagrass restoration programmes), before all ESRW2 delegates split off into sixteen smaller, more targeted, workshops on topics such as Biodiversity, Blue Carbon, Microbiome, Unlocking Finance and Remote Sensing to name just a few. What was really noticeable on Day 2 was the fantastic atmosphere created by the community during these workshops.

It was such a positive, optimistic and collaborative environment, and its positive to see pan-European ’Working Groups’ now emerging that are forming to collaborate and address specific knowledge gaps. Are you interested in getting involved, or simply wish to follow the conversation? Then keep your eye on the European Seagrass Restoration Alliance website for updates.

Finally ‘Day 3 - Seagrass, Seascape and Society’ enabled us to hear from the community, a series of seagrass restoration ‘case studies’ that are currently underway across Europe. We also heard from leading figures in the emerging discipline of seascape restoration, the Solent Seascape Project being a prime example, before wrapping up the conference with a screening of ‘Madre Mar’.

I certainly left ESRW2 feeling optimistic for the trajectory of seagrass ecosystems in Europe; there are so many passionate, talented and hard working people tackling this issue today it gives me real hope for the future.