Marine habitats are facing pressure from various human activities, leading to biodiversity loss. The UK has lost more than 15% of its intertidal habitat since 1945, including 8,000 ha of saltmarsh and even more mudflat, and native oyster populations have declined by 95% in the UK since the mid-19th century. 

Healthy marine ecosystems provide valuable ecosystem services, including coastal protection from erosion and storms, as well as supporting fisheries, tourism and recreational opportunities.  

The UK government is committed to global efforts to protect and conserve our oceans and seas. By undertaking marine habitat enhancement activities we address biodiversity loss, as well as climate change impacts and other pressures, and improve the health and resilience of the marine environment.

The need for a centralised, national resource

The Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) initiative was set up by the Environment Agency to facilitate and inform the restoration of estuarine, coastal and marine habitats in England and the rest of the UK.

To help achieve these goals, the ReMeMaRe team, the marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (mNCEA) programme and The Crown Estate identified the need for a centralised national data resource which documents the progress being made with coastal, estuarine, and marine habitat restoration and creation activities.

The database is needed to understand where projects are happening and what their objectives are, as well as understanding crucial factors such as success rate, cost or funding source and what lessons are being learned, to inform future projects.

ABPmer was commissioned by the Environment Agency to examine how such an online platform would function and how it could be developed. This was done with reference to case examples and our own experience of developing and using data driven products, as well as our expertise supporting the delivery of habitat restoration projects.

The result of this work is the creation of the Marine Enhancement Directory (MEnD).

The Marine Enhancement Directory

Funded by Defra as part of the mNCEA programme, with co-funding from The Crown Estate, the Marine Enhancement Directory (MEnD) has been developed by ABPmer, in collaboration with Logic Software.

MEnD is a freely accessible, national centralised data resource, which will provide a means to map, audit and manage habitat creation and restoration activities across local, regional and national levels in the UK. It will be used to collate data pertaining to planned, in progress or completed UK enhancement projects.

Launched with an initial 20 projects, MEnD provides information and lessons on UK habitat creation and restoration activities

Launched with detailed information on an initial 20 enhancement projects, MEnD is available for users to explore and add data. Development of the platform will continue in a phased and iterative agile manner to continue enhancing the platform functionality.

The platform is designed to share information and lessons, accelerate learning, communicate best practice, inform decisions, understand achievement towards policy targets (e.g. Environmental Improvement Plans) and, ultimately, help deliver additional enhancement opportunities to meet the challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change.

Alongside improving understanding and communications, the platform will also be used to evaluate the country’s progress with restoration against key policy targets.

This platform is vital for the effective delivery of future projects across the estuarine, coastal and marine seascape, with the scope spanning from highest astronomical tide out to 200 nautical miles.

Next steps

The development of MEnD has been, and is being, undertaken in a progressive, collaborative and phased manner. A number of stakeholder workshops are being undertaken, which include training on data entry and use. Further enhancements will be undertaken in response to user feedback to optimise the platform’s functionality.

Visit the Marine Enhancement Directory at mend.eco
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