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Most marine ecosystem restoration projects are still at an experiment stage. A social cost and benefit analysis (SCBA) would provide useful information for decision making to support scaling up the restoration projects and assist in deciding which projects should be prioritised. This study first develops a framework for assessing the social costs and benefits for marine ecosystem restoration, considering the uncertainties associated with the restoration success as well as the factors that may affect cost and benefits of restoration. Three case studies are demonstrated: the deep sea ecosystem restoration in the Dohrn Canyon in the Mediterranean Sea, an oyster reef restoration in Galway Bay, Ireland, and a kelp forest restoration project along the coast of northern Norway. The non-market value of ecosystem service benefits are used as welfare indicator of restoration projects in all three cases. All three cases show the large positive net present value (NPV) or expected net present value (ENPV). In the case of Dohrn Canyon, uncertainties associated with restoration success are shown to significantly affect the probability distribution of ENPV. Noewgian kelp forest restoration shows the restoration strategy in each period will depend on the state of kelp recovery.
