Institutional safeguards and international experience for construction of coastal ecological barrier

The coastal zone is a transitional area shaped by the interaction between land and sea, and it holds significant importance for national ecological security as well as economic and social development. Against the backdrop of advancing Chinese modernization, the research on institutional safeguards for the construction of coastal ecological barrier is essential for building a comprehensive framework for ecological conservation from the mountaintop to the ocean, implementing the major projects to protect and restore key ecosystems and the “dual carbon” goals, and promoting ecological civilization and the construction of a Beautiful China. At present, China’s institutional safeguards for coastal ecological barrier development face several challenges, including fragmented institutional arrangements, insufficient cross-sectoral and cross-regional coordination, the absence of mechanisms for transforming ecological product value, and incomplete indicator coverage in monitoring and evaluation systems. It is therefore necessary for China to establish a safeguard that integrates ecological, economic, and social dimensions, and to construct a safeguard system grounded in the landscape ecology paradigm of “pattern–process–service–sustainability”. Meanwhile, inspired by institutional incubation experiences from other countries, China may accelerate the development of this system by advancing coastal zone management legislation, improving territorial spatial planning institution, and encouraging the participation of social capital in coastal ecological restoration projects.