The blue carbon potential of the Welsh MPA network
What potential do Welsh Marine Protected Areas have for sequestering and storing carbon, and what are the implications for mitigating climate change?
Read article
Informing coastal habitat creation and adaptation: OMReg update
02/02/2023
The latest update to the OMReg database supports knowledge sharing about completed coastal habitat creation and adaptation projects in the UK and Northern Europe.
The Online Marine Registry (OMReg) is a database of completed habitat creation projects. A freely accessible resource managed by ABPmer, OMReg helps widely share knowledge about coastal adaptation initiatives.
It is available for anyone interested in this subject, including researchers, coastal communities, local authorities, and policy makers.
The OMReg website has been updated with enhanced search tools, allowing users to better understand and study these completed coastal habitat creation schemes and adaptation projects, and inform best practice for future schemes.
Coinciding with World Wetlands Day on 2 February, the updates help highlight the vital work being done to maintain crucial wetlands, enhance marine biodiversity, and make coastlands more sustainable.
| World Wetlands Day 2023 |
|---|
|
Celebrated on 2 February each year, World Wetlands Day marks the anniversary of the Convention on Wetlands, which was adopted as an international treaty in 1971. Wetlands are distinct ecosystems flooded or saturated by water. They provide a critical contribution to biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, freshwater availability, and world economies. World Wetlands Day is designed to raise awareness about wetlands, highlighted by this year’s theme of wetland restoration. With 90% of the world’s wetlands having degraded since the 1700s, there is an urgent need to prioritise their restoration. |
Colin Scott, ABPmer’s habitat creation specialist, said:
“The OMReg website was set up to provide an important function, informing future coastal habitat creation projects through knowledge gained from completed schemes, and we are pleased to see that it is so regularly used for this purpose.Today, as we become increasingly concerned with the loss of biodiversity and the need to adapt coastlines and restore coastal habitats, there is an imperative to improve communications on lessons learned and best practice.
OMReg provides the tools to inform these communications, supported by the latest updates and the valuable contributions of stakeholders adding to the database.”
OMReg’s scheme information supports the ongoing work of coastal stakeholders to deliver vital restoration initiatives. For example, the datalayers have recently been used by Natural England to inform their responsibility under the Environment Act to contribute to environment enhancement on the English coast.
Enhanced search tools
The latest update to OMReg includes new and enhanced tools to make it easier for users to filter, view and compare the completed schemes and projects across the UK, Europe and, increasingly, the rest of the world.
New features include:
- Enhanced search bar: Easily find schemes and places
- Improved navigation: Extent navigation allows you to navigate the map to its previous or next extent
- Schemes summary: Dynamically understand the number and types of schemes in the current map extent as you move around, and even zoom to a site of interest
- Bespoke scheme map views: Create bespoke map views that show only completed projects, by filtering on custom scheme types
- Enhanced schemes attribute table: Expand the table from the bottom of the app and view and filter data; results exportable to CSV
- Custom scheme queries: Easily find schemes through the predefined query schemes tool, creating bespoke lists of schemes by location and scheme type
- Measurement calculations: Measure the distance or area on the map to help investigate scheme specifics
- Additional basemaps: choose from 25 unique basemaps to compare scheme data against a range of geographical information, including human geography, ocean geography and topography
Join the community
OMReg is an evolving database, with new schemes being added as information becomes available.
Coastal stakeholders are invited to support the integrated knowledge sharing delivered by OMReg. If you have information on completed habitat creation schemes or other adaptation projects not yet captured, please add a scheme.
To add more information to an existing entry, contact Colin Scott, ABPmer’s habitat creation specialist.
Browse the database
Looking for information on completed habitat creation schemes or other adaptation projects? Visit the OMReg database.
OMReg is a free resource by ABPmer, a recognised specialist in marine and coastal habitat creation, restoration and protection. We work with clients from initial conception through planning and consent to scheme implementation.
Ready to discuss your requirements? Get in touch.
You might also like...
White Paper: Intertidal Net Gain – Are We Getting It Wrong?
How does habitat compensation in internationally protected sites compare with net gain requirements?
Read article
The curious case of the unnatural saltmarsh
It is now commonplace to compare restored habitats against so-called 'natural' ones; but what are the implications of this curious phrase?
Read article