Synergy between coastal ecology and disaster mitigation in China: Policies, practices, and prospects

Nature-based strategies for coastal protection against marine disasters have become a global trend. Over the past decade, marine ecological protection and restoration efforts in China have made exceptional progress. This study begins by outlining China's insurance policies on marine ecological protection, such as marine protected areas, marine ecological redline systems, bay chief systems, and marine ecological restoration practices, including the Blue Bay projects, comprehensive management of the Bohai Sea, coastal zone protection and restoration projects, and a special plan for mangrove protection and restoration. The synergy between ecological protection and disaster mitigation has been proposed as a nature-based conception of disaster prevention and mitigation with a holistic and systematic approach. This approach is conducive to balanced ecosystem restoration, disaster prevention, and mitigation. Finally, several potentialities are proposed to facilitate the development of a nature-based integrated coastal protection system in China. More focus should be placed on researching and improving new science for coastal ecological protection, enhancing the early warning and monitoring mechanisms of coastal ecosystems, promoting the organisation of legislative mechanisms for coastal construction and management, and enhancing the dissemination of coastal ecology and disaster mitigation science.