The Wadden Sea: A Success Story
Jens Enemark, Secretary General
Common Wadden Sea Secretariat
The Wadden Sea:
International Cooperation on Protecting an
Internationally Important Ecosystem
Denmark
The Wadden Sea
• Largest unbroken stretch of mudflats world wide
• Highly productive ecosystem (15,000 km2)
• 10-12 mill. migratory birds pass through the area
• Shared by 3 countries
Germany
The Netherlands
The Wadden Sea
Denmark
SchleswigHolstein
Hamburg
Lower Saxony
Germany
The Netherlands
The Biological Importance of the Wadden Sea
Conservation and Management – 25 years
Wadden
Conservation
PSSA
Wadden
Sea Area
Area
Sea
“The Wadden Sea now enjoys a level of
environmental protection and wise management
that is unprecedented throughout Europe and
other parts of the World in terms of harmonized
international ….policies…..”
(Burbridge, 2000).
Trilateral Conservation and Management – Key elements
• Joint Declaration, 1982
• Ecosystem Approach – Guiding principle
• Joint Policy and Management Plan
• Trilateral Monitoring and Assessment Program
(TMAP)
Obstacle: Creating Political Support
• Scientific cooperation/commitment
• Non-governmental organizations
(WWF, Dutch Wadden Society)
• Governmental Conferences
• Timing (70s – 80s)
Obstacle: Information Uncertainty
• Ecosystem approach to conservation and
management
• Targets qualitative: “An increased area and a more
natural distribution and development of natural
mussel beds, Sabellaria reefs and Zostera fields”
• Monitoring and Assessment Program /
Quality Status Reports
Obstacle: Involving the Community –
Coastal Management
• Community opposition, a barrier to
regional development
• Weak economic and social region
• Wadden Sea Forum, 2001
• Sustainable regional development perspective
Challenges: Wadden Sea Area –
Conservation Area
• Climate change – sea level rise – coastal
protection strategy
• Major modifications
• External impacts (pollution, shipping)
• Coordinated implementation EU legislation
• Involving the community
Success Story?
• Political commitment – reinforce conservation and
management across boundaries (S)
• Framework – enforceable legitimate authority (W)
• Embedment in a coastal strategy /
costal development (T/O)
• Sustainable use of coastal resources/
landscape values (O)
Breeding Birds: Trends 1991 - 2001
great cormorant*
great black-backed gull
eurasian spoonbill*
lesser black-backed gull
mediterranean gull*
common gull
little tern*
arctic tern*
shelduck
common eider
gull-billed tern*
black-headed gull
common redshank
short-eared owl*
sandwich tern*
hen harrier*
avocet*
oystercatcher
Decrease of 6 – 8 % for Kentish
Plover and Great Ringed Plover
(beach-breeding species)
common tern*
herring gull
eurasian curlew
northern lapwing
black-tailed godwit
kentish plover*
great ringed plover
common snipe
ruff*
dunlin*
-30
-20
-10
0
Decrease > 25% Only estimation
for: Common Snipe, Ruff and
10 Dunlin
20
30
annual population change 1991-2001 (%)
Input of Heavy Metals: Mercury (Hg)
10
Hg (ton/yr)
25
Lake
IJssel
8
WESER
6
4
ELBE
2
EEMS
0
1985
EIDER
1990
1995
2000
Dramatic reduction of Hg loads of the River
Elbe in the 1990s
Contaminants in Bird Eggs 1981 – 2003
Decrease of
Mercury
concentration in
bird eggs until
1993.
Slight increase
in some areas in
recent years
probably
remobilization.
Contaminants in Bird Eggs 1981 - 2003
Decrease of
PCB
concentration in
bird eggs until
since late 1980s
Salt Marshes: Grazing Intensity Decreased
Mainland
100%
80%
60%
none
moderate
intensive
40%
20%
0%
NL
1
’87
‘022
FRG-Nds
3
’87
‘994
FRG-SH
5’87 ‘99
6
DK
7’87 ‘01
8
Trilateral Cooperation on the Protection
of the Wadden Sea
www.waddensea-secretariat.org
www.waddensea-forum.org