Edit News Experts discuss Wadden Sea protection in face of green energy developments | Wadden Sea World Heritage Exchange Platform

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A World Heritage Site for 15 years, the Wadden Sea is renowned for its unique biodiversity and crucial role in global ecological processes. Safeguarding its outstanding universal value stands at the core of the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation of Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. Located between mainland and North Sea, the Wadden Sea is becoming a transit zone between offshore green power plants and consumers on land. The Wadden Sea Day 2024, held on 29 August at the UNESCO Wadden Sea World Heritage Visitor Centre Wilhelmshaven, focussed on the prospects of developing the North Sea as Europe's green power plant and what this means for the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site.

“We need to use the best technologies and practices to protect the natural values of the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site and to achieve the energy transition goals” says Sascha Klöpper, Executive Secretary of the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat. “While energy transition is an important element in mitigating climate change – an existential threat to the Wadden Sea, the developments in its proximity will add to the pressures of human activities on the World Heritage Site. In their decisions of 2023 and 2024 the UNESCO World Heritage Committee raised concerns regarding the consequences of these external and internal developments on the property – concerns that we need to address jointly with our partners.”

This year’s Wadden Sea Day is one step towards a better joint management and addressed questions such as what is needed to develop the North Sea as Europe’s green power plant, what are the potential impacts on the Wadden Sea, how can these challenges be managed, how can impacts be minimised, how can good spatial and technical solutions be found and how can common approaches be adopted.

The Wadden Sea Day has been jointly organised by the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat and the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park Authority since 2006.

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