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Wadden Sea and Climate
Change - Trilateral Cooperation necessary
The Common
Wadden Sea Secretariat and the National Park Lower Saxony
organized international conference - 125 experts met in the "Wattenmeerhaus"
in Wilhelmshaven
On
the occasion of the 20-year anniversary of the Common Wadden Sea
Secretariat (CWSS) in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, an international
Conference "The Wadden Sea and climate change" was held. The
Conference, in which some 125 representatives from science,
politics and the administration participated, was organised
jointly by the CWSS and the Lower Saxony National Park
Administration.
The
Conference was opened by Astrid Klug, Parliamentary State
Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment,
Nature protection and Nuclear Safety.
Since 1987, the CWSS has facilitated the cooperation between the
three Wadden Sea states in the protection and conservation of
the world-wide largest and most important coastal tidal wetland.
"The secretariat is a driving force for the protection of the
Wadden Sea" Klug underlined. "It has also provided significant
leadership in setting a common conservation and management
agenda, and coordination of research and monitoring." On behalf
of all partners in the cooperation the state secretary thanked
the staff of the secretariat for its devoted and never failing
work efforts for the Wadden Sea.
Also Hans-Heinrich Sander, Lower Saxon Minister of the
Environment, congratulated the staff of the CWSS. "The fact
that the CWSS was established here 20 years ago, has been and
still is an enrichment for Lower Saxony and in particular for
the city of Wilhelmshaven", Sander emphasised. "The CWSS as the
core of the cooperation of the three Wadden Sea countries has
considerably enforced this maritime and research location. The
CWSS has developed into a recognised force in the efforts for
the protection and conservation of the Wadden Sea."
Sander particularly highlighted the outstanding and
uncomplicated cooperation between the CWSS and the Lower Saxon
National Park Administration.
From left to right.: Dr. Albert Oost
(RIKZ),
Prof. Burghard Flemming (Senckenberg), Jens Enemark (Common
Wadden Sea Secretariat), Parliamentary State Secretary Astrid Klug,
Minister Hans-Heinrich
Sander, Lord Mayor Eberhard Menzel (Foto: Imke Zwoch)
Climate change
high on the agenda
The
aims of the conference were to discuss the impacts of global
climate change on the Wadden Sea and the Wadden Sea region and
to elaborate possible adaptation strategies.
State secretary Klug emphasised that already in an early stage
of the trilateral cooperation the importance of the impacts of
climate change on the Wadden Sea had been recognised. "The
effects of climate change may become visible in a rising sea
level, increasing frequency and intensity of storms and a
changing ecosystem." Klug continued.
Minister Sander very much welcomed that the three Wadden Sea
states have jointly taken up this very important theme. "Global
climate change does not stop at state borders and the impacts
can be established very rapidly along the coast."
Sea level rise
and sedimentation
One
of the main themes of the conference was the question, to what
extent the Wadden Sea is able to compensate the expected sea
level rise through natural sedimentation.
Professor Burghard Flemming from the Senckenberg Research
Institute
pointed out that changes in the sediment balance have already
occurred along the whole coastline. Global warming and the
expected sea-level rise going along with it will, in many parts
of the Wadden Sea, result in increased beach erosion, a further
loss of fine-grained sediments (and its fauna), and a
concomitant loss of salt marshes. From an environmental point of
view, the response of the Wadden Sea to an acceleration in
sea-level rise should be as little as possible interfered with.
Counter measures such as beach nourishment will only have a
lasting effect if new sediment from external sources is added to
improve the sediment budget. Pumping sediment from one location
to another along the coast may cause temporary relieve but will
not improve the situation in the long run. More attention should
be given to the creation or remediation of coastal wetlands and
small tidal basins on the landward side of the dikes, the
“inlets” which should ideally be controlled by adjustable surge
barriers.
Professor Morten Pejrup from the University of Copenhagen
concluded that an accelerated sea level rise will only “drown”
the Wadden Sea tidal flats if the sea level rises faster than
the sediment accumulates on the Wadden Sea inter-tidal flats. At
the same time, accommodation space for sedimentation increases
because salt marsh areas will be inundated, and consequently
more sediment will deposit in the Wadden Sea system as a whole.
It is possible that the main threat against the Wadden Sea
ecosystem in the future will be the dikes. Because the dikes are
fixed in their position they will not allow for new
accommodation space when the sea level rises.
Dr.
Albert Oost from the Dutch National Institute for Coastal and
Marine Management, (RIKZ):
For parts of a coastal area sufficient sediment supply can be
reached by allowing transport of sediments by wind or water in
that specific area. Currently, as part of a large restoration
plan for the Dutch Wadden Sea, measures are developed to
increase the resilience of the barrier islands in such a way.
There, in the past large parts were dyked by artificial dune
rows at the North Sea side and/or sea-dykes at the Wadden Sea
side. It is expected that removal of the dykes and increasing
sediment transport also result in the re-establishment of the
pioneer vegetations and their faunas, characteristic for the
coastal environments of the Wadden Sea barrier islands.
New requirements
to coastal protection
A second focal point of the conference was the question whether
the current coastal protection practice can sufficiently cope
with the expected sea level rise and a possible increase in
frequency and intensity of storms.
Dr. Jacobus Hofstede from the Schleswig Holstein Ministry of
Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas:
In the long term, with strong SLR (> 1 m) and/or higher storm
surges, a situation may evolve where traditional coastal flood
defence and protection measures become, at least financially,
less feasible. Apart from innovative technical solutions,
alternative instruments like spatial planning and risk
communication may gain more importance. Hence, as one policy
response to climate change, a more holistic coastal risk
management approach is needed. Integrated coastal risk
management considers, in a cyclic manner, the following aspects:
prevention, protection, preparedness, emergency response,
recovery and review.
Professor Karsten Reise (Alfrew-Wegener Insitute, Sylt)
recommended to adjust the Wadden Sea to rising sea levels with
nourishments of sand. The required sand should be extracted from
offshore sites in the North Sea and transported to sediment
deficient inshore locations inside the Wadden Sea. This sand
should be explicitly used to diversify shoreline configurations
in the form of sand bars, sandy hooks and dunes, serving coastal
protection as well as biodiversity.
The historical truncation of the habitat spectrum of the Wadden
Sea at the landward side has particularly diminished the
brackish estuarine transitions. This is exacerbated by the
conversion of estuaries into ever deeper shipping canals in
order to accommodate ever larger vessels. A possible solution
for estuarine restoration and adaptation to sea level rise could
be a floating harbour central to several ports of the North Sea,
to transfer cargo from large to small vessels or into pipeline
connections to the mainland.
Ecosystem in crises?
The third main
theme of the conference concerned the impacts of climate change
on the Wadden Sea ecosystem.
Professor
Reise stated that rapid climate
change constitutes a crisis for natural biota. In the Wadden
Sea, the most critical zone is at the landward side of the
habitat spectrum. Large episodic flood plains have been
converted into arable land or freshwater sites. Sequences of
shoreline habitats have been replaced by monotonous seawalls.
Dunes have been fixed and are losing their characteristic
vegetation. With the expected acceleration in sea level rise,
transitional habitats of the upper intertidal and supratidal
zones may be squeezed out in front of solid coastal defenses.
At coasts,
survival by adaptation has been most successful in environments
rich in gradients and mosaics of habitats. Management should aim
to restore original habitat sizes and structural diversity.
Dr. Katja
Philippart and Dr. Erich Epping from the Dutch Institute for
Coastal and Marine Research (NIOZ), Texel:
Effects of climate change on the Wadden Sea
ecosystem will not only be due to changes in water temperatures
and sea level, but also to alterations in rainfall, wind and
carbon dioxide levels. Changes in these environmental factors
will result in shifts in habitats and species, and in their
interactions. This may subsequently impact on ecosystem
functioning aspects such as nutrient recycling, primary
production, and food web structure, setting new limits to
conservation measures and exploitation rates.
DOWNLOAD
Presentations (PDF files)
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Impacts
of climate change on the Wadden Sea depositional system
Prof. Dr. Burghard W. Flemming - Senckenberg Institut,
Wilhelmshaven, Germany
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Sea Level Rise
and Sedimentation Processes
Prof. Dr. Morten Pejrup - Thorbjørn J. Andersen and Anni
Tindahl Madsen, Institute of Geography and Geology,
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
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Impacts of
climate change on ecosystem processes in the Wadden Sea
Dr. Eric Epping - Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea
Research (NIOZ), Texel, The Netherlands
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Impacts of climate change on habitats and species of the
Wadden Sea
Dr. Katja Philippart - Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea
Research (NIOZ), Texel, The Netherlands
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Coastal Protection adaptation strategies
Dr. Jacobus Hofstede - Deputy Head of the Division Flood
Defence, Coastal Protection and Harbours in the
Schleswig-Holstein State Ministry of the Environment,
Germany
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How to enhance
the resilience of the Wadden Sea to climate change?
Dr. Albert Oost - National Institute for Coastal and Marine
Management, The Hague, The Netherlands
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The Wadden
Sea and Climate Change: Nature Protection Adaptation
Strategies
Karsten Reise, Alfred Wegner Institute for Polar and Marine
Research, Wadden Sea Station Sylt,
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Statement by WWF
Hans Ulrich Rösner, WWF Germany
Background
documents
EU and Climate
Change
Trilateral Working Group on
Coastal Protection and Sea Level Rise
Wadden Sea
Quality Status Reports
Other Reports
Impacts of Climate
Change on the European Marine and Coastal Environment:
www.vliz.be/docs/Events/JCD/MB_Climate_Change_VLIZ_05031.pdf
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