WSF 33 plenary in Varde, DK

The 33rd plenary meeting of the WSF took place on 6-7 June in Varde. Topics of the meeting were the outcome of the Ministerial Declaration Leeuwarden, the new partnership center / partner-hub in Wilhelmshaven and future workfields.

The WSF has elaborated a report about developments in the Wadden Sea Region, including status reports about the work on demographic change and sustainability indicators. The approach for this report was to consider the objectives and statements of the political level, expressed in the Ministerial Declaration of the Trilateral Governmental Conference 2014 in Tønder, Denmark. Taking this approach into account, this report recalls those statements of the Tønder Declaration, relevant for socio-economic developments and stakeholder involvement in the Wadden Sea Region, assesses the main developments accordingly and presents recommendations of the WSF stakeholders for future actions.

At the 11th Trilateral Governmental Conference for the Protection of the Wadden Sea on Sylt in 2010, it had been stated that the Wadden Sea Region (WSR) shall develop into a CO2-neutral region. This was reinforced at the conference in 2014 in Tønder.

To analyze the progress with regard to this aim, the Wadden Sea Board in cooperation with the WSF agreed to elaborate an inventory of CO2 reduction policies, measures and best practices. This was done on different levels, to get a complete picture, encompassing the European and national levels as well as the Wadden Sea Region with its provinces, counties and municipalities. On the local level only best practice examples have been compiled. The full report is now available for download. Inventory report for a climate-friendly Wadden Sea Region