The North Sea is one of the most intensively used sea basins in the world, supporting fisheries, shipping, offshore renewable energy, and other activities, while providing essential habitats for ecologically important species. Achieving a balance between economic use and ecosystem integrity requires coordinated cross-border approaches.
Regional and global policy frameworks, including OSPAR, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and EU legislation, require countries to restore degraded ecosystems and demonstrate measurable progress. To meet these objectives, a suite of robust indicators is needed. These indicators must satisfy criteria such as data availability, appropriate spatial and temporal coverage, and applicability across
The ICES Workshop to Identify Indicators to Track Nature Restoration Across the Greater North Sea Basin (WKRestore_GNS) that will take place on 20-22 April 2026, chaired by Jos Schilder (the Netherlands) and Roger Proudfoot (UK). The workshop will build on results from an ICES data call on indicators for marine restoration and preparatory work, including a comprehensive list of habitats and species relevant to restoration efforts. The objective is to identify indicators that are, and could be, applied consistently across the Greater North Sea Basin
WKRestore_GNS is set as a response to a request from the Greater North Sea Basin Initiative (GNSBI) to ICES to provide a scientific basis for a common, sea basin approach to track progress towards nature restoration targets. The work aims at making the best use of existing indicators, avoid duplication of effort and maximize efficient regional coordination.
Over three days, WKRestore_GNS will:
- Develop a harmonised table of indicators relevant for tracking restoration across the Greater North Sea Basin, including active and passive restoration, pressure, state and process indicators suitable for application in coastal, inshore and offshore waters.
- Evaluate indicator suitability, spatial and temporal coverage, and data robustness for policy reporting.
- Identify gaps and opportunities for improved regional coordination.
- Propose a core set of common indicators to support different reporting contexts.
Participation
WKRestore_GNS will be held in hybrid format, with in-person participation at ICES Headquarters in Copenhagen. Active participation throughout the three-day workshop is highly recommended.
If you want to participate, please fill in the survey here by 31 March, indicating your background and your availability to participate fully in the workshop. If oversubscribed, ICES may prioritise participation to ensure a balanced group of experts enabling constructive discussion, diverse perspectives, and appropriate regional representation. Selected participants will be informed by shortly after the closing date for registration.
If you have any questions, please contact Anna Ellendersen.
