1460 / 2024-09-27 14:33:06

Enhancing Marine Protected Areas: Harnessing Ecological Engineering for Ecosystem Restoration and Habitat Enrichment

Marine Conservation, Eco-shoreline, Biodiversity

Session 48 - Ecological and Socio-Economic Benefits of Marine Protected Areas

Marine infrastructures often utilize simple artificial vertical or sloped seawalls as coastal defences against wave action, flooding, and land erosion. However, these structures lack microhabitats that could be utilized by marine organisms as refuges and feeding grounds. By integrating knowledge from marine ecology and fostering collaboration among ecologists, architects, and engineers, we can now design eco-friendly artificial structures that serve dual purposes as coastal defences and functional ecosystems. These structures can enhance marine biodiversity and ecosystem services. In this concise presentation, I will introduce the fundamental principles of ecological engineering and showcase successful examples from Hong Kong. The transformation of manmade seawalls into living seawalls and eco-shorelines aligns with the goals of the UN Decade of Ecosystem Recovery and the National Master Plan for Major Projects for the Protection and Restoration of Important Ecosystems (2021-2035). These ecological engineering strategies can also be applied to ecosystem restoration and habitat enhancement in fisheries protection areas and marine protected zones.