ABPmer launches new managed realignment reference tool
ABPmer in the UK has launched a new version of its online reference tool OMReG. This widely used reference database, originally published in 2007, provides site specific lessons across a wide range of habitat creation projects. The advice helps all those involved in estuary management and coastal habitat creation.
OMReG is continually updated and has now grown to encompass 94 completed habitat creation projects across northern Europe. It includes interviews with site managers, information on monitoring programmes as well as learning points. A new scheme ‘counter’ provides an instant overview of projects implemented to date, and a graph showing habitats created in the UK offers an auditable trail of progress to date (e.g. against Biodiversity Action Plan targets).
Colin Scott, Head of the Environment Team at ABPmer said, ‘The website includes statistical descriptions of the sites together with a collection of relevant images and maps. The crucial part is the feedback from interested parties and project managers about the lessons learned from these projects. This will help to improve the quality and quantity of future projects. The database can be interrogated in several ways including via Google mapping.’
The site complements other online resources such as the UK Environment Agency’s Managed Realignment Electronic Platform which reviews policy and management issues for managed realignment, and Defra’s Estuary Guide, which provides an overview of how to identify morphological change within estuaries.
