PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Denmark has a significant part of Europe’s shallow coastal areas and salt meadows. In many places nature in coastal zones is under pressure due to cultivation, agriculture, containment, eutrophication and other disturbances which, through hundreds of years, have restricted the costal landscape and caused major habitat loss. Climate change, with associated water level rises and warming, is an emerging additional pressure on coastal zone habitats and biodiversity, including protected birds and various wetland-associated species, which are becoming more endangered. Therefore, there is a great need to protect and improve the natural habitats that still exist within coastal zones and to restore lost habitats.
The habitats and bird species that are the focus of COASTal LIFE have unfavourable conservation status at EU and national level and are threatened in occurrence and distribution. Rapid action is needed to achieve favourable conservation status. The protected terrestrial habitats are predominantly found in a narrow coastal zone between the waterline and dikes protecting agricultural land behind them. These areas are strongly threatened by rising water levels, so urgent action is crucial to secure species and habitats for the future.
Complementary wetland projects, with a primary focus on nutrient retention, are also being implemented in the 4 areas targeted by the LIFE project, which are in Løgstør and Nibe Bredning in Limfjorden, in the outer part of Mariager Fjord and on the north coast of Fyn (Nordfyn), all located in Natura 2000 sites. Significant synergies are expected between these projects and COASTal LIFE, with major synergy effects also expected in terms of carbon sequestration and coastal protection and, hence, climate change mitigation and adaptation.
OBJECTIVES
COASTal LIFE aims to re-establish the original coastal habitats in parts of 4 Natura 2000 sites, to expand protected habitats and create larger ecological corridors and natural areas. On land, the project is focused on the restoration of Atlantic salt meadows, a central habitat in Denmark’s coastal zones. Marine habitats targeted include sandbanks, mudflats and sandflats, shallow bays and coves, and stone reefs. Living conditions for protected birds will also be improved, with beneficial effects overall for species associated with the coastal zones. Furthermore, COASTal LIFE will address climatic changes and rising sea levels, restore biodiversity and ecosystem services, and increase the environmental resilience of the water bodies concerned.
The project’s specific objectives are to:
- Contribute to achieving favourable conservation status for 11 types of protected habitat;
- Improve the conservation status of 9 bird species: pied avocet, little tern, common tern, Arctic tern, sandwich tern, dunlin, common goldeneye, pale-bellied brent goose and red-breasted merganser;
- Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by almost 3,180 tonnes a year;
- Increase nitrogen immobilisation (the long-term storage of nitrogen in soil organic matter) by close to 140 tonnes a year;
- Secure the coastline to avoid erosion, sediment mobilisation and loss of land (coastal squeezing). Protect the coastal zone against rising sea levels;
- Contribute to the replication of measures targeting re-establishment of eelgrass beds, management of restored salt meadows and restoration of oyster beds;
- Re-establish ecosystem services on land and in ecological corridors;
- Increase the involvement of stakeholders to boost ownership; and
- Raise awareness about the project, its added value and the Natura 2000 network’s values; share knowledge and best practice.
RESULTS
Expected results:
- Favourable conservation status for 11 types of habitat and 9 bird species;
- Establishment of salt meadows (735 ha), islets (8 ha), stone reefs (6 ha), lagoons and ponds in the outer coastal zone (35 ha), and oyster and mussel beds – biogenic reefs (5 ha);
- Sand capping or sand removal (4 ha);
- Establishment of eelgrass beds: 4 ha planted, spreading to 160 ha;
- Conservation actions in salt meadows (500 ha);
- Grazing on 600 ha of land;
- 3 instances of replication of measures developed in the project;
- Reduction of GHG emissions by almost 3,180 tonnes a year;
- Immobilisation of almost 140 tonnes of nitrogen a year;
- Increased awareness of the values of the Natura 2000 network;
- Creation of hiking trails and bird observation platforms;
- Knowledge shared on 3 replication measures: re-establishment of eelgrass beds, management of restored salt meadows, and restoration of oyster beds; and
- Complementary actions: establishment of wetlands (1,180 ha) and clearing (20 ha).
