ABPmer launches new managed realignment reference tool

ABPmer, a leading provider of specialist environmental advice for managed realignments and other coastal habitat creation projects, has launched a new version of their online reference tool: OMReG ( www.abpmer.net/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 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 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.

Internal Links

• Wallasea Island Wild Coast  - RSPB scheme (Roach/Crouch Estuary, Essex)
• Wallasea Wetland - Defra scheme: information and monitoring website  (Crouch Estuary, Essex)
• ABPmer’s involvement in options development for Farlington Marshes  (Langstone Harbour, Hampshire)

External Links

• Environment Agency’s Managed Realignment Electronic Platform
• Defra and Environment Agency’s Estuary Guide
• The RSPB’s information page on the Wallasea Island Wild Coast project
• ComCoast - A European project on innovative solutions for coastal flood protection

Enquiries:
Tracey Hewett
ABPmer Communications
Tel: 02380 711840