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. The other conferences in between were 1994 in Leeuwarden, 1997 in Stade and 2001 in Esbjerg.
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.
Links to Wadden Sea Conferences
1991 Esbjerg
1994 Leeuwarden
1997 Stade
2001 Esbjerg
2005 Schiermonnikoog
Weblinks
Overview of all of the conferences:
http://cwss.www.de/management/Management.html.
More information on Wadden Sea Management and trilateral cooperation with respect to the Wadden Sea:
http://cwss.www.de/management/Management.html.
Source: de Vleet, Ecomare
