Harald Marencic has been with the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat for 27 years. At the end of May 2023, he will retire.

The Wadden Sea can make a valuable contribution to our challenges in the fields of climate, pollution, and biodiversity loss: while being a natural, species-rich ecosystem, its typical habitats also play an important role in carbon sequestration. Next to its Outstanding Universal Value all the more reason to protect it for present and future generations.

As migratory birds are returning from their southern wintering grounds to their breeding sites in the Wadden Sea, in view of the experience in 2022, researchers and site managers are concerned about new outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in colonially breeding birds.

The scale of the outbreak of the bird flu, more specifically the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), in the North Sea region in the breeding season of 2022 was unprecedented.

As Denmark has now taken over the presidency of the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation (TWSC) from Germany, the new Representative of the Danish Delegation to the Wadden Sea Board (WSB), Martin Petersen, joined the new WSB Chair, Anne-Marie Rasmussen, on visit to the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat in January 2023.

The 19 site managers came from four nature reserves and national parks that make up the World Heritage Site.