Upscaling marine and coastal restoration through legal and governance solutions: Lessons from global bright spots

There is a global imperative to upscale restoration in line with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Upscaling of marine and coastal restoration is hindered by legal and governance barriers. Identifying both the types of barriers and potential solutions from global ‘bright spots’ is a first step toward implementing legal and governance frameworks to facilitate upscaling of marine and coastal restoration. Here we identify five types of barriers including (a) lack of fit-for-purpose permitting frameworks, (b) tenure issues, (c) concerns regarding risk and liability, (d) a lack of overarching targets for restoration, and (e) uncoordinated governance frameworks. For each barrier, we conduct a broad analysis of legal and governance solutions from across the world. Our analysis provides a guide for future research and law and governance reform. • Marine and coastal restoration has been hindered by legal and governance barriers. • Globally, there is evidence of legal and governance solutions to these barriers. • These solutions can be used to inform law and policy reform in other countries. • This can assist with the scaling up of restoration to meet Target 2 of the Global Biodiversity Framework.