Cross-border partnerships

The Wadden Sea covers an area along the North Sea coast of Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. It is a ‘large temperate, relatively flat coastal wetland environment, formed by the intricate interactions between physical and biological factors that have given rise to a multitude of transitional habitats with tidal channels, sandy shoals, sea-grass meadows, mussel beds, sandbars, mud flats, salt marshes, estuaries, beaches and dunes. … The [site] is home to numerous plant and animal species, including marine mammals such as the harbour seal, grey seal and harbour porpoise. … The site is one of the last remaining natural, large-scale, intertidal ecosystems where natural processes continue to function largely undisturbed’.

In 1978 the first Governmental Conference on the protection of the Wadden Sea took place between the three countries. The Joint Declaration on the Protection of the Wadden Sea was signed in 1982. It formed the basis of the World Heritage nomination. In 2009 the Dutch and German part of 973,562 ha/9,735.6 km2 was inscribed on the World Heritage List for its uninterrupted system of intertidal sand and mud flats, the largest in the world. The natural processes are undisturbed throughout most of the area. The nomination file states that the ‘underlying approach of the conservation and sustainable use of the nominated property is an ecosystem approach’.