Summary
On November 30 2022 at the Wadden Sea Conference in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, the Trilateral Wadden Sea Governmental Council – comprised of Ministers representing Denmark, Netherlands, and Germany (the three Wadden Sea states) – adopted a new Wadden Sea Management Plan for the Protection of the Wadden Sea World Heritage SIte. The Plan’s purpose is to further improve their management coordination for the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site and set the course for operationalising a framework of activities they will take up the next 4 years. Among other things, the declaration instructs the Wadden Sea Board to explore if the concept of “Rights of Nature” could be adapted to the common Wadden Sea World Heritage.
This plan reaffirms the objectives of these countries 2010 Joint Declaration and the Wadden Sea Plan 2010, and is an attempt to operationalize that objective in light of “the global twin crises of Biodiversity loss and the effects of Climate Change” (2), especially the threats of rising sea levels and increasing anthropogenic uses.