Global degradation of marine and coastal ecosystems driven by climate change, habitat destruction, and other anthropogenic pressures has intensified the need to upscale marine ecosystem restoration (MER). This requires moving beyond single habitats to seascape‐scale approaches that not only achieve scale but facilitate ecological connectivity, ecosystem resilience, and sustainable delivery of ecosystem services. MER remains predominantly habitat specific, with limited opportunity for interhabitat collaboration and addressing cross‐habitat interactions, habitat mosaics, large‐scale ecosystem functionality, and on‐the‐ground delivery. In response to this, the European Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER‐Europe) proposes a global Ocean Restoration Supra‐Alliance (ORSA) to convene a community already advancing MER, and to push this to a coordinated seascape approach. To assess the need for an ORSA, two panel discussions were conducted with representatives from global and European MER alliances. Participants expressed unanimous support for establishing an ORSA, affiliated with the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), to foster cross‐habitat knowledge exchange, strengthen a global community of practice, and enhance science–policy integration. Overall, the findings demonstrate strong practitioner support for an ORSA. Key opportunities identified include pooling technical expertise, standardizing monitoring approaches, advocating collectively for seascape restoration, and closing gaps between science and policy. Anticipated challenges include ensuring inclusive representation, avoiding duplication of existing initiatives, securing sustained funding, and delivering tangible outcomes. By uniting habitat‐specific alliances and advancing seascape‐scale restoration, the proposed ORSA could contribute meaningfully to MER and international biodiversity and climate goals.
Adair et al. (Thu,) studied this question.