Nature-based Solutions in the Wadden Sea

Technical coastal flood defence and protection measures such as dikes and groins strongly interfere with natural structures, dynamics, and ecological functions of the Wadden Sea ecosystem. In order to minimise these effects, trilateral policies and plans on nature conservation aim to enhance the use of nature-based measures and maintenance practices in a collaborative approach with the competent authorities. Necessary coastal defence measures should be based on the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, which aims at natural resilience of the Wadden Sea to climate change effects.

The trilaterally adopted SIMP Integrated Management Plan for ONE Wadden Sea World Heritage (2023) refers to the definition of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5 Resolution March 2022) for nature-based solutions (NBS) as “actions to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use and manage natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems, which address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services and resilience and biodiversity benefits.” The broad nature of this definition makes it clear that, due to differing perspectives, further details and clarifications are needed in practice to understand what might be meant by the implementation of nature-based solutions for the Wadden Sea, addressing actual future challenges.

Below are examples or, rather, story maps on implemented NbS for coastal flood defence and coastal protection in the Wadden Sea region. It is realised that, with respect to the general definition given above, it may be debated whether all of the story maps describe NbS. Some of the projects are mitigation measures or restoration measures compensating nature impairment by coastal protection interventions. Some stories can also be explained by the results of negotiation processes involving local communities and civil society, not solely by legal, engineering, or ecological framework conditions. In this context, it is important to note that the story maps do not provide simple technical recipes for NbS as a cookbook would. The practice examples are not meant to describe a “how to” approach of which steps to follow. Instead, they are meant to inspire and inform future project designs by describing past occurrences and their consequences.