image: Photo from the Maldonado, Uruguay field trip view more
Credit: REST-COAST project
The Horizon 2020 REST-COAST project focusing on coastal management and large-scale restoration, hosted its first Summer School workshop from 13 to 15 March 2023 at the Centro Universitario Regional del Este (CURE) in Maldonado, Uruguay.
This significant project event brought together experts from the USA, Uruguay, Brazil, and REST-COAST pilot areas in Spain, Poland and the UK, and covered a wide range of training topics related to coastal management and restoration.
The "Innovative research and management for coastal restoration" workshop covered various aspects of coastal restoration, including the financing of restoration projects, the use of nature-based solutions (NbS), and the application of coupled modelling systems to assess risk reduction and study the protective role of nature in different marine systems like lagoons, sand barriers, and estuaries/deltas. The meeting provided a unique opportunity for researchers from different countries to share experiences and present case studies from their regions. The discussions provided an overview of the reality of coastal degradation and restoration efforts at different levels and locations.
The workshop concluded with a field visit to the "Laguna Garzón" and "Laguna de Rocha," two pristine protected lagoons with unique natural dynamics of breaching and closing sandbars. Participants observed firsthand the impact of nature-based solutions on coastal restoration efforts and gained valuable insights into the region's ecosystem and the management practices employed to protect it.
“We had a great time discussing the diversity of study sites, quality learning of possible approaches to restoration actions, and realising that problems/magnitudes are amazingly different from what we are used to in Europe” says the REST-COAST Project Manager Iván Cáceres of the Catalonia University of Technology UPC-BarcelonaTech.
REST-COAST is committed to advancing the science of coastal restoration, and the Summer School workshop is an essential part of this effort. With the success of this event, REST-COAST plans to continue hosting similar workshops and events to promote and upscale collaboration and knowledge-sharing among researchers and stakeholders worldwide working towards a sustainable future for the coastal ecosystems.