Content
Deliverable D4.2 presents a cost assessment framework for marine ecosystem restoration projects, designed to support the efficient reporting and sharing of cost data. Marine ecosystem restoration is increasingly a priority for mitigating the climate and biodiversity crises, reflected in EU policy instruments such as the Nature Restoration Regulation, the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters. Yet relative to terrestrial restoration the field is in its infancy, and reporting of interventions, outcomes and — in particular — costs remains inconsistent for lack of a standardised framework. Cost assessments give policymakers important information when choosing between restoration projects, and collect baseline data that feeds other decision-making tools such as cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis. This framework builds on previously reported frameworks in the restoration space and, crucially, uses the terminology of practitioners.
The framework is split into three phases: pre-deployment (the planning needed to support the intervention), deployment (the restoration intervention itself) and post-deployment (site maintenance and monitoring, costs which are frequently overlooked). For each phase, costs are reported separately for project administration and intervention activities under three categories — labour, capital/equipment and consumables. It is designed to apply across the full range of marine ecosystem projects — from seagrass planting to the deployment of 3D structures in reef restoration — while still allowing context-specific information to be transparently reported in each case. An accompanying user-friendly Excel tool operationalises the framework for practitioners.