Dr. Lena OkonkwoBay of Biscay, FranceReport AvailableExample project

Seagrass Meadows Revival, Bay of Biscay

Restoring 80 ha of Posidonia seagrass to rebuild fish nurseries and lock away blue carbon.

Ecosystem ServicesBlue CarbonSeagrassRestoration

About this project

This proposal describes restoring 80 ha of Posidonia in the Bay of Biscay and scores well because it aligns with established, peer-reviewed seagrass restoration science, is a tractable project scale with clear ecological benefits, and is amenable to repeatable monitoring. Missing details (baseline/counterfactual, monitoring protocol specifics, governance and benefit-sharing arrangements) limit perfect scores and create measurable verification and transparency gaps that should be closed before implementation.

AI summary by the Ozeaon Climate Intelligence System

Why this integrity score?

The OCIS Integrity Report below explains the reasoning behind the headline score — dimension by dimension — and is readable in full here.

Score Reasoning — Dimensions

The headline score is a weighted sum of six integrity dimensions assessed by the Ozeaon Climate Intelligence System.

Scientific Rigor20% weight
90
Restoration of Posidonia has a strong evidence base and well-established transplant/assisted recovery methods; proposal would get full marks if it cited specific protocols, survival targets, and adaptive management plans.
Open Science15% weight
80
Proposal implies public ecological goals but does not commit to an open data plan, publication of methods, or pre-registered monitoring protocols; achievable but not documented here.
Measurability (dMRV)20% weight
84
80 ha is a scale readily monitored with a mix of remote sensing, drones and in-situ sampling; however the proposal lacks explicit baseline, sampling design, carbon accounting method and QA/QC procedures.
Additionality & Impact15% weight
82
Restoration would likely generate clear biodiversity and carbon benefits beyond BAU for degraded sites, but the proposal omits a counterfactual and permanence/leakage assessment.
Transparency & Governance15% weight
78
No governance, funding flows, legal site tenure, or long-term maintenance/ownership commitments are provided; these are essential for accountability and permanence.
Community & Equity15% weight
88
Project intent (fish nursery restoration) implies strong local livelihood co-benefits, but the proposal does not describe consultation, benefit-sharing or social safeguards — still likely high if local fishers and stakeholders are engaged.

Strengths

Strong alignment with peer-reviewed Posidonia restoration literature and well-understood ecological benefits (nursery habitat, biodiversity, sediment stabilization).
Project scale (80 ha) is large enough to be ecologically meaningful but still manageable for rigorous monitoring and adaptive management.
Multiple co-benefits (fish nurseries, coastal protection, blue carbon sequestration) increase the societal value and funding appeal.
Highly monitorable: combination of remote sensing, UAVs, diver transects and sediment cores can produce robust dMRV.

Risks & Gaps

Missing baseline, counterfactual, and permanence/leakage analysis creates uncertainty about emissions/removals additionality and crediting eligibility.
No documented governance, long-term site protection, or funding for post-restoration maintenance—risks of re-degradation and non-permanence.

dMRV Recommendation

Tier

Tier 2 — Intermediate (mixed remote sensing + in-situ sampling)

Cadence

Quarterly ecological monitoring (UAV/transplant survival/visual surveys) with annual sediment core sampling and annual public dMRV report; independent verification at Years 3 and 5.

Recommended

Yes

An 80 ha Posidonia restoration is best monitored using a hybrid approach: remote sensing and UAVs efficiently map extent and change at landscape scale, while in-situ diver transects and sediment cores provide the ground-truth and carbon stock/flux data needed for reliable accounting. Quarterly ecological checks allow early detection of transplant failure and adaptive management; annual carbon-focused sampling captures slower sediment processes. This approach balances cost, spatial coverage, and scientific robustness for a medium-scale restoration.

High-resolution multispectral satellite (e.g., Planet, Sentinel-2) for areal extent mappingUAV photogrammetry and orthomosaic generation for high-resolution percent cover and change detectionDiver or ROV belt transects for shoot density, percent cover, and species compositionPermanent plot monitoring for survival rates and demographic tracking

About this project

Generating OCIS summary & integrity report…