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Site Selection Technology for Restoration of Muddy Coastal Zone: From the Perspective of Ecosystem Integrity
Kang Liu, Jie Xing, Yuejun Fei, Shufeng Ye and Youzheng Zhang

“Balance between occupation and restoration” (BBOR) stands as a pivotal strategy in China’s coastal zone restoration efforts. In practical implementation, certain marine development projects encroach upon natural coastlines. However, on-site restoration is often infeasible for these areas due to factors such as the narrow width of the tidal flats along the occupied coastlines, excessive development intensity within the red-line boundaries specified in land-use certificates, or irreversible alterations to the inherent attributes of the coastlines. To meet the regulatory targets for maintaining the natural coastline retention rate, off-site restoration has become an imperative approach. This paper conducts a dedicated study on the site selection techniques for off-site restoration. The research reveals that a rigid and inflexible adherence to the BBOR principle would result in an insufficient restoration scale. Such an approach not only renders the restored areas vulnerable to negative impacts from adjacent unrepaired coastlines but also fails to sustain the overall landscape and function of the coastline ecosystem. Consequently, from the perspective of ecosystem integrity, this paper puts forward a targeted proposal: the minimal ecological restoration unit should be divided based on ecological interfaces, with the restoration length exceeding the length of the occupied coastline. Guided by this concept, the research conducted site selection evaluations on the extensively distributed muddy coasts in the region, screening multiple artificial coastlines to optimize restoration schemes. The findings are expected to provide valuable references for similar endeavors in the future.

Keywords: natural coastline, muddy coast, coastal zone restoration, ecosystem integrity, ecological boundary, site selection