Science and youth engagement are two of the key topics in this year’s Annual Report from the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat. There is also an update on all the activities of the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation from 2021 – a year in which, despite lockdowns and restrictions has seen lots of things to celebrate.

With the start of November, the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat (CWSS) has a new staff member: Simone Prestes Dürrnagel. Simone will organise the first Wadden Sea Youth Conference, to be held in autumn 2022 at the same time as the Trilateral Governmental Conference.

Since October, multiple cases of bird flu have been reported in the Wadden Sea. Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands all confirmed that the highly pathogenic bird flu virus HPAI has been identified in dead migratory birds found within the Wadden Sea.

The 15th International Scientific Wadden Sea Symposium, which this year will be held in Büsum, Schleswig-Holstein (D) on 30 Nov - 3 Dec 2021, is now at full capacity in line with the local restrictions for events, with 180 participants. It is therefore no longer possible to book at place at the event.

The 15th International Scientic Wadden Sea Symposium will be held as an in person event in Büsum, Schleswig-Holstein (D) on 30 Nov - 3 Dec 2021

As part of the collaboration on the beautiful, limited edition Dat Watt diving watch, Oris and the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat have arranged a series of unique annual events aimed at showing how we can bring change for the better and help to protect the Wadden Sea.

More than 100 dead harbour porpoises have washed up on the beaches of the Dutch Wadden Sea islands of Vlieland, Terschelling, Ameland and Schiermonnikoog in the last week, as reported by the University of Utrecht.

Global cooperation for migratory bird conservation was the theme of this year's Wadden Sea Day, held at the Atlantic Hotel in Wilhelmshaven on Thursday 26th August, with a focus on the "Wadden Sea Flyway Initiative" (WSFI).

Bernard Baerends, executive secretary of the CWSS, was invited to give a brief talk on the importance of international cooperation when it comes to nature conservation, at an online side event at the 44^th UNESCO World Heritage Committee Meeting, in Fuzhou China. This 44^th session takes place from 16 – 31 July 2021.