REWilding and Restoration of InterTidal sediment Ecosystems for carbon sequestration, climate adaptation and biodiversity support

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Within European coastal zones, intertidal areas consisting of soft sediment emerging during each low tide, form complex seascapes covering more than 10 000 km2 along the 35 000 km of the tidal coastline. These habitats provide multiple ecosystem services with great potential to cope with the biodiversity-climate crisis by contributing to carbon neutrality, climate resilience and biodiversity support. Nevertheless, these seascapes continue to be fragmented and threatened, resulting in a decrease of their provision of services. Rewilding, a nature-based solution, is a new concept for seascapes to reverse this situation and to “let (again) Nature do the job” ensuring climate resilience, biodiversity support and societal benefit of the future European shoreline. Within a network of 10 demonstrators and 25 partners from 11 European states, including 8 with a tidal coast, plus the UK, Canada and the USA, REWRITE will bring an interdisciplinary consortium of natural and coastal environment and social sciences and humanities experts to address the current ecological and social challenges regarding intertidal seascape rewilding. Expanding innovative approaches, REWRITE will focus on the climate-biodiversity society nexus, to reach 4 specific objectives: -identify environmental, social and cultural drivers and barrier parameters to rewild intertidal sediment seascapes within the context of climate change; -strongly engage stakeholders to achieve a step-change in their appreciation of the natural function of these seascapes and integrate their interests within a co-design of scenario for future European shoreline; - estimate and upscale trajectories of intertidal seascapes from the local to the European level, following rewilding (passive), restoring (active), “business as usual” or “do nothing” options; -establish tools and methods for successful rewilding to ensure a high ecological and societal co-benefit/low-cost ratio for a climate-neutral and resilient European shoreline.