INTERREG V A-Projekt Wadden-Agenda 2.0

The Wadden Sea is a globally unique natural area that has been under protection for decades. Its uniqueness was once again internationally underpinned with the designation as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. This habitat, which is worthy of protection, plays an outstanding role worldwide both in terms of geological and ecological processes and its importance for the preservation of biological diversity. It is characteristic for the Ems Dollart region. The Wadden Sea and the coastal region provide a home for numerous animal and plant species that have become rare elsewhere.

At the same time, this area is also a settlement and economic area for one million people and a vacation region for more than four million guests. The protection of this unique habitat can only succeed in the long term if it is widely supported by society. Balancing the interests of the natural environment with regional and tourist development is therefore an immanent challenge that must be met with innovative solutions. A tourism use that merely "takes into account" the Wadden Sea does not go far enough. Rather, sustainable tourism must make an active contribution to the protection of the Wadden Sea region. An appreciative tourism is required, which focuses on the importance and the uniqueness of the Wadden Sea and thereby contributes to its protection.

For this reason, the funding project "Wadden Sea Agenda" was launched with the aim to create the cross-border development and implementation of a new and sustainable tourism for the preservation and protection of the Wadden Sea ecosystem. The project partners worked together on the cross-border coordinated implementation of the following objectives in the four work packages: