The LIFE DUNIAS project is restoring Belgian coastal dunes by removing invasive non-native plants and giving native dune vegetation space to recover.
Along the Flemish coast in Belgium, restoration work is focusing on a problem that often hides in plain sight: attractive garden plants that escape into fragile dune ecosystems. The LIFE DUNIAS project is removing invasive non-native plants so native dune vegetation can recover.
Dunes are not empty piles of sand. They are living coastal systems with specialised plants, insects and birds adapted to wind, salt and shifting ground. When invasive shrubs or ground-cover plants spread too strongly, they can flatten that variety into a simpler and poorer habitat.
The project uses heavy machinery in many areas because the roots and contaminated sand have to be removed properly. From a distance that can look harsh, but the aim is repair: opening the ground again so the natural dune community has a fair chance to return.
It is a useful good-news story because it shows restoration as practical maintenance, not only romantic planting. Sometimes nature needs people to stop the wrong plants from taking over before the right ones can grow back.