Site Rehabilitation and Ecosystem Restoration

Site rehabilitation and ecosystem restoration restore degraded land and marine environments to stable, safe, and productive ecological conditions after infrastructure removal (Ellison et al., 2020). This may include, among others, recontouring land and stabilizing soils, mangrove, wetland, or shoreline restoration, re establishing native vegetation, habitat creation for fish and wildlife, and removal of artificial barriers to natural processes.

For DMC ports, site rehabilitation and ecosystem restoration can enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services, improve coastal protection and climate resilience, support fisheries and local livelihoods, restore natural water quality and hydrology, and improve community acceptance and land value .

Site rehabilitation extends beyond contamination remediation to include restoration of ecological functions, landscape character, and social values at former port sites. Rehabilitation planning considers, among others, the desired future state of the site (ecological restoration, urban redevelopment, mixed use, or wilderness), suitability of site conditions for restoration objectives, integration with surrounding landscapes and ecosystems, and stakeholder aspirations for site futures.

For coastal port sites, rehabilitation may include mangrove restoration, shoreline restoration, and creation of intertidal habitats. Research published in Frontiers in Marine Science has analyzed mangrove rehabilitation as adaptive management, identifying lessons from restoration projects including the importance of species selection matched to local conditions and community engagement (Ellison et al., 2020).

Urban rehabilitation of former port sites supports brownfield regeneration while providing amenity and economic value. Barangaroo Reserve (Sydney) (Landscape Architecture Foundation, 2017), Wynyard Quarter (Auckland), and HafenCity (Hamburg) demonstrate different approaches to urban port land rehabilitation. Dunkerque-Port drew up a Natural Heritage Master Plan (Schéma Directeur du Patrimoine Naturel) in 2010 to balance transformation of the port area with environmental quality by conserving or creating natural habitats linked by biological corridors (Dunkerque-Port, n.d.).

Post rehabilitation monitoring verifies success and supports adaptive management. Monitoring programs typically measure, among others, vegetation establishment and survival, water quality in rehabilitated aquatic areas, species colonization and biodiversity indicators, soil and sediment conditions, and site user outcomes for areas with public amenity objectives. Multi year monitoring programs can be used to track long term rehabilitation outcomes and can extend 10 to 20 years.

Community engagement throughout rehabilitation supports stakeholder buy in, legitimacy of rehabilitation approaches, and identification of community aspirations and local knowledge. Engagement may include, among others, community consultation on rehabilitation objectives, community involvement in planting and habitat creation activities, ongoing stewardship arrangements for rehabilitated sites, and communication about monitoring outcomes and adaptive management.