Democratizing marine restoration best practices in a digital toolbox

Abstract Restoration of degraded marine and coastal areas is a priority set by European policy makers, as exemplified by the recent adoption of the European Nature Restoration Law (NRL) in June 2024. This legislation-driven approach is expected to expand the European marine restoration community rapidly as the amount of funding and projects grows to meet the targets outlined by the NRL However, it is difficult to assess the success of restoration activities which is vital to ensure the viability of upscaling. Furthermore, best practices are not well established in the marine realm and scientific networks are still in their early stages of development. Here, we outline our development of a digital, online toolbox for marine restoration in collaboration with the European restoration community. The toolbox aims to go beyond simply making data FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) through the creation of science-based digital services that allow for use of information for decision-making for marine restoration. The toolbox is constructed in a modular way to fulfil the needs of a diverse range of users across Europe and includes a centralized space to find methodological approaches, relevant networks, funding opportunities, and resources. The digital tools under development will be openly accessible through the Blue-Cloud 2026 platform within the thematic virtual research environment for marine restoration, which allows for the scalable use and reuse of data and code by any interested user. The toolbox aims to provide restoration community members science-based methods from which they can leverage and accelerate their restoration projects. In the pursuit to democratize access to best practices and knowledge, we go beyond providing code or data in static repositories. Based on our experience, we encourage others that are developing toolboxes or knowledge bases for diverse user groups to consider taking advantage of publicly funded infrastructure to promote their work according to open science practices.