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Season's Greetings
The team of the Common Wadden
Sea Secretariat wishes you a
Merry Christmas and a Happy New
Year. Best wishes for Health,
Happiness and Prosperity to you
and your family.
1. Secretariat becomes
independent
After 24 years the Common Wadden
Sea Secretariat received its
independent legal capacity in
Germany. The law was signed by
the Federal President Christian
Wulff, Chancellor Dr. Angela
Merkel, and the Federal Minister
for Environment, Nature
Protection and Nuclear Safety
Dr. Norbert Röttgen and went
into effect on 15 December 2011.
We would like to thank all who
supported the CWSS in reaching
this goal over the last years.
2. PROWAD - Sustainable Tourism
in the Wadden Sea
 The
Interreg IVB North Sea Program
approved the project application
"PROWAD - Protect and Prosper -
Sustainable Tourism in the
Wadden Sea" submitted by the
Netherlands, Germany and
Denmark. This positive decision
is celebrated by all involved
project partners, as it supports
activities to protect and
maintain the World Heritage
values, as requested by the
UNESCO World Heritage Committee
(see last newsletter) and at the
same time offers opportunities
for the sustainable development
of the region. The aims of the
project are:
1.
To develop a consistent
tourism strategy for the Wadden
Sea region and an action plan to
implement the strategy,
2.
To establish a
transnational network of local
and regional stakeholders to
support sustainable
socio-economic development
3.
To develop sustainable,
high quality tourism offers
More information will be
provided in the next newsletter.
A short summary of the project
is at:
http://www.waddensea-secretariat.org/management/prowad.html
3.
World Heritage is now seen from
an autobahn
 On
15 December, a new autobahn sign
"UNESCO-World Heritage the
Wadden Sea" appeared at the A23
Hamburg-Heide and B5
Tönning-Heide, both in
Schleswig-Holstein. The image
depicts the outlines of the
entire Wadden Sea coast and was
jointly developed by Germany and
the Netherlands. The sign will
contribute to the World Heritage
awareness by the locals and the
region’s guests and to the
creation of the new World
Heritage identity. Within the
next several months more signs
are expected to be also
installed in other regions.
4. I know where I’m going
A conference on remote
access to World Heritage Sites
 This
conference on remote access to
World Heritage Sites was the
first official event on the
occasion of the 40th anniversary
of the UNESCO World Heritage
Convention. Over 180
participants from more than 20
countries and 4 continents
participated in the conference
in Edinburgh on 23 - 24 November
2011. The focus of the
conference was to discuss the
potential of new technologies
for communication and
preservation, and to create
high-quality, remote-access
visitor experiences for World
Heritage Sites. This is of
particular interest for sites
which are difficult to reach,
such as the remote Scottish
island of St. Kilda, or which
have restricted access for
conservation purposes or
cultural reasons, such as the
Australian Uluru-Kata Tjuta
(former Ayers Rock).
Many World Heritage sites are by
their very nature dramatic and
imposing places that attract
myths and stories. How oral
tradition and storytelling can
complement modern technology was
demonstrated by a World Heritage
Site on the Orkney islands,
stories are indeed the oldest
remote access medium to heritage
sites. This year’s Wadden Sea
story hunter campaign was a
successful start of this kind of
remote access.
New techniques will also play a
role in providing innovative
presentation and communication
to educate, inform and enhance
visitors’ experiences. Peter
DeBrine from the UNESCO World
Heritage Center identified
tourism as a subsector for
investment which encourages und
stimulates local development not
only in the World Heritage site
itself but also in the adjacent
areas.
He encouraged enhancing dialogue
and cooperation with the tourism
sector in order to develop
sustainable, high quality and
authentic tourism offers. James
Rebanks highlighted the added
value of world heritage tourism
based on an analysis of more
than 800 World Heritage sites.
He presented some examples on
how new technologies can be
applied to create additional
values for sites and
communities, taking into account
that most of the World Heritage
related economic activities are
taking place outside the site
itself.
I know where I’m going - this
was the title of the conference
which also provoked statements
such as "Are we there yet?",
"Yes, we’re here, now what?" and
"Do we know where we have
been?". The inspiring conference
provided many answers, but also
created new questions. There are
opportunities and chances in
using new technologies,
especially for conservation,
communication and education
purposes, but we should also be
aware of risks while using them.
5. International Wadden Sea
School Workshop on Texel
 The
eleventh annual workshop of the
International Wadden Sea School
took place on Texel from 28 to
30 November 2011. This workshop
has its primary goal in giving
the participants an opportunity
to share their experience, ideas
and current activities in the
field of environmental
education.
27 participants from various
information centers from
Denmark, Germany and the
Netherlands participated in the
three-day workshop that this
year was hosted by Ecomare, the
information center for the
Wadden Sea and the North Sea.
Since this was the first
workshop under the governance of
the Network Group education, the
program contained various
strategic topics, e.g.
suggestions of the trilateral
education strategy and Tourism
Strategy for the World Heritage
area. Especially active were the
discussion about the promotion
and communication of the World
Heritage area in the Netherlands
and the practical task to
comment on the project of the
Schutzstation Wattenmeer - the
BeachExplorer.
The web project "BeachExplorer"
will offer visitors the Wadden
Sea in-depth nature experience
in all three countries along the
Wadden Sea coast. With the help
of smartphone applications and
the website visitors and
children groups will be invited
to monitor and report mussels,
crabs, algae and other beach
findings. The beachgoers are
encouraged to pay closer
attention to the sea by
reporting their findings to the
database, which will provide
valuable insights to the
condition of the Wadden Sea and
ecological changes in the World
Heritage site for biologists.
Apart from the intensive work,
the participants had an
opportunity to visit the Ecomare
exhibition and spent some time
in the fresh air, taking a walk
on the beach, dunes or to
Texel’s famous light house. The
next workshop will take place in
autumn 2012, meanwhile the
Network Group Education will
take care of the development of
current educational projects.
6. Job opportunities
Tourism and Marketing
Manager and World Heritage
Project Manager
The CWSS is looking for
professional and responsible
candidates to close the
project-based vacancies of a
Tourism and Marketing Manager
and World Heritage Project
Manager to strengthen its team.
Please find the full text of the
job advertisements here:
http://www.waddensea-secretariat.org/news/jobs.html
7.
Trilateral Meetings
23 - 24 January
Task Group Management (TG-M)
27 January 2012
Task Group World Heritage
(TG-SWH)
15 February 2012
Expert Network Group Fish
28 - 29 February 2012
Joint Monitoring Groups Breeding
and Migratory Birds (JMBB/JMMB)
14 - 15 March 2012
Wadden Sea Board (WSB-5)
29 March 2012
Task Group Shipping (TG-S)
A complete overview is at:
http://www.waddensea-secretariat.org/trilat/meetings/meetings.html
8. Symposia & Workshops
A complete list of upcoming
events is at:
http://www.waddensea-secretariat.org/news/events/otherconf.html
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