Overlooked discrepancies in protocols undermine coastal restoration practices in China
Abstract To improve the success of expanding ecosystem restoration efforts, technical guiding-standards are being developed in many nations. Whether these protocols have been well adopted to guide restoration practices remains unknown, especially in developing countries where policies evolve rapidly...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Communications Earth & Environment |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-01995-x |
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| _version_ | 1850115015665778688 |
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| author | Tian Xie Zhonghua Ning Baoshan Cui Qiang He Cong Chen Zhenchang Zhu Yujia Zhai Guogui Chen Qing Wang Shanze Li Junhong Bai Christopher B. Craft Tjeerd J. Bouma Zhifeng Yang |
| author_facet | Tian Xie Zhonghua Ning Baoshan Cui Qiang He Cong Chen Zhenchang Zhu Yujia Zhai Guogui Chen Qing Wang Shanze Li Junhong Bai Christopher B. Craft Tjeerd J. Bouma Zhifeng Yang |
| author_sort | Tian Xie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract To improve the success of expanding ecosystem restoration efforts, technical guiding-standards are being developed in many nations. Whether these protocols have been well adopted to guide restoration practices remains unknown, especially in developing countries where policies evolve rapidly to balance socioeconomic development with ecosystem restoration. By conducting text semantic mining analyses, we reveal widespread discrepancies between China’s coastal restoration practices and protocols over the past four decades. Over 60% of executed restoration projects had no detailed technical standards to guide implementation, especially for severely degraded ecosystems. Development of these standards lagged significantly behind project implementation, was poorly enforced, and focused more on monitoring than guiding good restoration designs and adaptive management, likely undermining restoration performance. Nevertheless, current policies toward prioritizing ecosystem restoration offer opportunities to remedy this issue. Enforcing policies to ensure that practices are guided by protocols is necessary to promote coastal restoration success in China and globally as nations strive to achieve ambitious restoration targets. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d4bad4f107c747dc8f1d773738b95fa0 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2662-4435 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Earth & Environment |
| spelling | doaj-art-d4bad4f107c747dc8f1d773738b95fa02025-08-20T02:36:41ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Earth & Environment2662-44352025-01-016111110.1038/s43247-025-01995-xOverlooked discrepancies in protocols undermine coastal restoration practices in ChinaTian Xie0Zhonghua Ning1Baoshan Cui2Qiang He3Cong Chen4Zhenchang Zhu5Yujia Zhai6Guogui Chen7Qing Wang8Shanze Li9Junhong Bai10Christopher B. Craft11Tjeerd J. Bouma12Zhifeng Yang13School of Environment, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, Yellow River Estuary Wetland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Beijing Normal UniversitySchool of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Key Laboratory of Ecological Protection in the Yellow River Basin of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Beijing Forestry UniversitySchool of Environment, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, Yellow River Estuary Wetland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Beijing Normal UniversityCoastal Ecology Lab, MOE Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, National Observations and Research Station for Wetland Ecosystems of the Yangtze Estuary, School of Life Sciences, Fudan UniversityResearch and Development Center for Watershed Environmental Eco-engineering, Advanced Institute of Natural Sciences, Beijing Normal UniversityGuangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Ecological Security and Green Development, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Quality Improvement and Ecological Restoration for Watersheds, Guangdong University of TechnologySchool of Environment, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, Yellow River Estuary Wetland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Beijing Normal UniversityResearch and Development Center for Watershed Environmental Eco-engineering, Advanced Institute of Natural Sciences, Beijing Normal UniversityResearch and Development Center for Watershed Environmental Eco-engineering, Advanced Institute of Natural Sciences, Beijing Normal UniversityState Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower ResearchSchool of Environment, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, Yellow River Estuary Wetland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Beijing Normal UniversitySchool of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana UniversityDepartment of Estuarine and Delta Systems, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea ResearchSchool of Environment, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, Yellow River Estuary Wetland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Beijing Normal UniversityAbstract To improve the success of expanding ecosystem restoration efforts, technical guiding-standards are being developed in many nations. Whether these protocols have been well adopted to guide restoration practices remains unknown, especially in developing countries where policies evolve rapidly to balance socioeconomic development with ecosystem restoration. By conducting text semantic mining analyses, we reveal widespread discrepancies between China’s coastal restoration practices and protocols over the past four decades. Over 60% of executed restoration projects had no detailed technical standards to guide implementation, especially for severely degraded ecosystems. Development of these standards lagged significantly behind project implementation, was poorly enforced, and focused more on monitoring than guiding good restoration designs and adaptive management, likely undermining restoration performance. Nevertheless, current policies toward prioritizing ecosystem restoration offer opportunities to remedy this issue. Enforcing policies to ensure that practices are guided by protocols is necessary to promote coastal restoration success in China and globally as nations strive to achieve ambitious restoration targets.https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-01995-x |
| spellingShingle | Tian Xie Zhonghua Ning Baoshan Cui Qiang He Cong Chen Zhenchang Zhu Yujia Zhai Guogui Chen Qing Wang Shanze Li Junhong Bai Christopher B. Craft Tjeerd J. Bouma Zhifeng Yang Overlooked discrepancies in protocols undermine coastal restoration practices in China Communications Earth & Environment |
| title | Overlooked discrepancies in protocols undermine coastal restoration practices in China |
| title_full | Overlooked discrepancies in protocols undermine coastal restoration practices in China |
| title_fullStr | Overlooked discrepancies in protocols undermine coastal restoration practices in China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Overlooked discrepancies in protocols undermine coastal restoration practices in China |
| title_short | Overlooked discrepancies in protocols undermine coastal restoration practices in China |
| title_sort | overlooked discrepancies in protocols undermine coastal restoration practices in china |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-01995-x |
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