REST COAST will demonstrate to what extent upscaled coastal restoration can provide a low-carbon adaptation, reducing risks and providing gains in biodiversity for vulnerable coastal ecosystems, such as wetlands or sea grass beds. By overcoming present technical, economic, governance and social barriers to restoration upscaling, REST COAST will develop the large-scale river-coast connectivity and increase the nearshore accommodation space for the resilient delivery of coastal ecosystem services (ESS). The selected ESS (risk reduction, environmental quality and fish provisioning) touch urgent coastal problems such as the erosion/flooding during recent storms or the accelerating coastal habitat degradation that seriously affects fisheries and aquaculture. By enhancing these ESS under present and future climates at 9 Pilots that represent the main EU regional seas (Baltic, Black, North, Atlantic and Mediterranean) we shall increase the commitment of citizens, stakeholders and policy makers for a long-term maintenance of restoration. Such commitment will go together with a transformation of governance and financial structures, supported by evidence-based results on restoration benefits for the welfare of coastal societies and assets. This transformation will build upon the results from hands-on restoration at the Pilots, steered by the multidisciplinary project advances. Combining new techniques, risk assessments, innovative financial/governance arrangements and homogeneous metrics for ESS and biodiversity, REST-COAST will develop a systemic approach to coastal restoration based on a scalable coastal adaptation plan. The plan will underpin a transformative change in governance and policies, proving the importance of the coastal dimension in the EU Green Deal for adaptation/mitigation under climate change. The proposed adaptation will facilitate replicating large scale restoration and introducing coastal ESS into national and international policies.

Coast-Scapes (rethinking COASTal landSCAPES with climate-resilient interventions: systemic land-to-sea solutions) proposes to rethink land-coast-sea systems under climate change for enhanced resilience and biodiversity gains. We shall co-design systemic resilience solutions for coastal landscapes using transdisciplinary indicators, early and climatic warnings, business models and knowledge-based maintenance to reduce climatic risks and improve land to sea environments. We propose nature-based-solutions (NbS) suited to a broad range of coastal archetypes, governance, climates and resilience deficits, sequenced along resilience-through-adaptation pathways. Such solutions, supported by governance transformation and cross-sectoral engagement, will be applied by regions and communities empowered by an unprecedented combination of technical tools, financial models and social commitment. Coast-Scapes will promote NbS for a climatic resilience compatible with biodiversity gains and existing infrastructure constraints, seeking a reduced environmental footprint under natural resources that are scarce in quantity and quality. Social and technical innovation, associated to a governance shift, will make systemic resilience operational and fill the implementation gap at a pace commensurate with climate change acceleration. The selected Core Pilot regions/communities feature climate sensitive natural/human assets, controlled by land-coast-sea interactions and acting as large-scale demonstrators of scalable resilience plans for replication and export. These plans aggregate Science, Policy, Industry, Society and Environment actors with administrations responsible for local implementation, organised as resilience platforms and linked in a Regions and Communities Board. Resilience solutions will be monitored/maintained/marketed with the project, new standards and business models, for a resilience build up commensurate with unfavourable climate/human stressors.