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Dieren en planten

Animals   Plants   Flora on tidal flats   Fauna in tidal areas   Benthic fauna   Fish   

Wadden Sea conferences

The First Ministers Conference in accordance with the international Wadden Sea policy was in 1978. In 1982, the Ministers signed the Joint Declaration for Protection of the Wadden Sea in Copenhagen. The following conferences elaborated on this declaration. A new breakthrough occurred in Esbjerg in 1991, when it was decided to make a joint management plan for the Wadden Sea. The 10th Trilateral Wadden Sea Conference was November 2-3, 2005 on Schiermonnikoog. At this conference, the basis was laid for establishing the wadden region as World Heritage. This status was achieved during an UNESCO conference in 2009.

  • Trilateral Working Group

    The Common Wadden Sea Secretariat (CWSS), located in Wilhelmshaven, plays the principle role in preparing the Ministers conferences. The CWSS houses the secretariat for the Trilateral Working Group (TWG), the group of civil servants that negotiate the documents for the Minister conference meetings. Civil servants from the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality participate in the TWG for the Netherlands.

  • Scientific symposia

    Once every three years, a scientific symposium is organized for all of the institutes involved with research related to protecting the Wadden Sea. These scientific symposia generally supply a long list of recommendations for the conference agenda.

  • Consultations on a town and provincial level

    Not just the ministers come together. The provincial governments in the wadden region occasionally organize so-called 'Interregional Wadden Sea Conferences', with the purpose of co-ordinating the policy of the wadden provinces as much as possible. The third in this series was from 8 to 10 October 1999 in the German town of Husum. The instrument Milieu-EffectRapportage (MER) (Environmental Effects Report) and the theme 'recreation and tourism' were high on the agenda.
    The town councils from all the Danish, German and Dutch Wadden townships also organize international conferences regularly.