International co-operation
Living up to our responsibility for global protection of marine areas
UNESCO World Heritage Marine Programme
The Wadden Sea actively contributes to the UNESCO Convention and its activities and programmes, specifically to the World Heritage Marine Programme.
Launched in 2005, the mission of the World Heritage Marine Programme is to establish effective conservation of existing and potential marine areas of Outstanding Universal Value to make sure they will be maintained and thrive for generations to come.
Events: Workshop Marine World Heritage Sites to Tönning in April 2013 / Download Report
External Links: Meetings Hawaii, Vilm, Tubbataha, Corsica
The Wadden Sea actively contributes to the UNESCO Convention and its activities and programmes, specifically to the World Heritage Marine Programme.
(link to: http://whc.unesco.org/en/marine-programme/)
Launched in 2005, the mission of the World Heritage Marine Programme is to establish effective conservation of existing and potential marine areas of Outstanding Universal Value to make sure they will be maintained and thrive for generations to come.
Events: Workshop Marine World Heritage Sites to Tönning in April 2013 / Download Report
External Links: Meetings Hawaii, Vilm, Tubbataha, Corsica
More information: World Heritage Marine Programme at http://whc.unesco.org/en/marine-programme/
Banc d’Arguin Mauritania
The Banc d’Arguin National Park (Mauritania) and The Wadden Sea (Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands) are the most critical sites for migratory birds on the East Atlantic Flyway and are closely connected in a unique and fascinating way. Every year, approximately 30% of the estimated 7 million wading birds that use the East Atlantic Flyway spend the winter at Banc d’Arguin National Park. Both sites understand that the conservation status of their World Heritage areas is very closely linked and decided to join forces, share best management practices and learn from one another.
Bird flocks
The twinning arrangement was signed during the 12th Trilateral Governmental Conference from 4-6 February 2014 in Tønder, Denmark. The signatory ceremony took place under the patronage of the deputy ministers for the environment in Denmark and Mauritania. The twinning arrangement provides a framework for cooperation with a work package that will include support toward the designation of Banc d’Arguin National Park as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) under the International Maritime Organisation regulation – a status that was obtained by the Wadden Sea in 2002.
Tidal Flats in Korea
The Korean tidal flats and the Wadden Sea belong to the largest and most important coastal tidal flat ecosystems in the world. There is a mutual interest in supporting each other in the protection of these ecosystems and sharing experience in management, monitoring and research.
Since 2009, the Wadden Sea countries and Korea have been working together and concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as a basis for this cooperation.
Almost 100 experts have participated in the MoU, which has reached over 1,500 persons in Korea and in the Wadden Sea. The MoU has raised the profile of both areas regarding the protection of tidal flats nationally and internationally, and this underlined the necessity to provide scientific knowledge for management, strengthened the capacity for communication and education, and provided many valuable examples for practitioners to apply at their sites.
MoU Leaflet: The new publication summarises the work done in the framework of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Korea and the Wadden Sea on conservation and management of tidal flats.
More information:
The Wash-Northern Norfolk Coast
The cooperation between the Wash-northern Norfolk Coast and the Wadden Sea is based on the Memorandum of Intent signed at the Trilateral Governmental Conference in Esbjerg in 1991.
Since then, several activities around implementation of European directives, coastal protection and management, namely shellfish fisheries, and specific workshops have been conducted.
In 2012, Representatives from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands, the National Park Administration Lower Saxon Wadden Sea and the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat met corresponding British colleagues from the ministry to local fisheries, management and NGOs for an intense information exchange and site visits to explore options to intensify the cooperation. The visit was organised by Natural England, which is the English government’s organisation that advises on the natural environment. A series of excursions led to salt marsh areas affected by wind farm cabling activities, restoration projects and local fishery industry.
Photo: On 25-28 October 2012, representatives from the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation had the opportunity to visit the Wash estuary.
More Information http://www.waddensea-secretariat.org/about-us/international-partnerships/wash-northern-norfolk
