The Dutch Wadden Sea

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Netherlands (Europe and North America)

Date of Submission: 13/02/2007
Criteria: (vii)(viii)(ix)(x)
Category: Natural
Submission prepared by:
Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
State, Province or Region:
The Netherlands: the provinces of Groningen, Friesland and Noord-Holland
Coordinates:
N52 57 54 E04 43
Ref.: 5112

Description

The Dutch Wadden Sea is part (30%) of the Trilateral Wadden Sea, which is a shallow sea extending along the North Sea coasts of The Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. It is a Barrier Island System, which is characteristic for regions with sandy coasts and a medium tidal range. The area contains complex geomorphologic elements/structures as e.g dunes, beaches, river mouths, salt marshes, sands and tidal flats, tidal channels, barrier islands that separate the Wadden Sea from the North Sea, and an offshore transition zone to the North Sea. The Wadden Sea is an excellent and functioning ecosystem which contains all relevant habitats and ecosystem functions. Its tidal flats form the largest unbroken stretch of mudflats worldwide. The present form of the Wadden Sea still is mainly the result of natural forces.

The Wadden Sea provides a multitude of transitional zones between land, the sea and freshwater environment which are characterized by the constant change of flood and ebb tides, great fluctuations in salinity, high temperatures during summer and occasional ice cover in winter. These circumstances have created numerous ecological niches, colonized by species that are adapted to the extreme environmental conditions. As a shallow sea, the benthic-pelagic coupling is notably strong, and the primary and secondary production in terms of biomass is one of the highest in the world. This production forms a foundation to the intricate food web that ultimately results in an important nursery area for fish, a foraging and resting habitat for seals, and a foraging habitat for waders.

The Wadden Sea is the main staging area for birds migrating from the breeding grounds in the arctic tundra of northeast Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia and North Siberia to the wintering grounds in Europe and West South Africa (East Atlantic Flyway). It is estimated that 10 to 12 million birds pass through the area and stay here for shorter or longer periods each year. The Wadden Sea "store-room" makes it possible to build up the necessary energy reserves to migrate thousands of kilometers. For more than 30 bird species, the Wadden Sea is an indispensable reproduction area. The Wadden Sea is the main nursery ground for fish species that are hatched in the North Sea.

Since the Middle Ages man has changed the Wadden Sea landscape by building dykes and reclaiming land. However, large parts of the Wadden Sea are still in pristine condition and have not been unduly affected by human activity. The Wadden Sea is a fully nature protected area within the relevant national protection schemes.

Justification for Outstanding Universal Value

Satements of authenticity and/or integrity

The Wadden Sea has sufficient size to contain a functional coherence of ecosystem elements. Due to the relatively undisturbed character of large parts of the Wadden Sea, morphodynamic processes have relative freedom to occur. Biological processes depending on, and affecting geomorphology can be found on many scale levels, from seasonal microphytobenthos mats gluing the sediment together to saltmarshes raising the sediment level and growing with sea level rise. Anthropogenic influences are well regulated, a set of ecotargets is internationally agreed on (Esbjerg declaration) and monitored to safeguard the integrity.

Because of the size, the length and the different conservation regimes most of the natural ecotopes of a barrier island saltmarsh and tidal flat system still exist. Especially the mutual dependency of ecotopes and completeness of an entire system can be found in the Wadden Sea. The quality of the area for migrating birds also is partly the result of the large size, which makes it easier to flee to other parts of the area when locally the conditions might be less optimal.

Comparison with other similar properties

There is no other extensive tidal flat and barrier-island depositional system in the World that is dominated by vast expanses of intertidal sediment flats which are exposed at low tide and display a progressively shoreward-fining grain-size gradient. It commences with sand flats in the seaward sections, followed by mixed flats and finally mud flats along the mainland shore. By contrast, the tidal flats of similar systems in other parts of the world are almost entirely occupied by eel grass meadows (e.g. the Ria Formosa in southern Portugal) or cord-grass marshes (e.g. the east coast of the U.S.A.). This fundamental difference in outward appearance produced by natural vegetation is due to a high supply of fine-grained sediments in the latter cases which has enabled the grass meadows and marshes to encroach entire sand flats by the capture and accretion of mud.

Most of the tidal flat systems on the World heritage lists are closely related to rivers and their deltas, which, from a morphological and geological point of view differ strongly from the Wadden Sea situation (e.g. Kakadu National Park in Australia and Sundarbans mangrove forest in Bangladesh) or quite mountainous (e.g. Gros Morne National Park in Canada). The only tidal flats system, which is to some extent comparable, is the Banc d'Arguin National Park in Mauritania. This, however, is tropical-subtropical in character, has no barrier islands and very sheltered regions.

The sites to which the Wadden Sea compares most with as a coastal marine wetland are:

- Donana (1 974), but the Wadden Sea supports the largest population of migratory birds on the flyway;

- Greater St. Lucia (1999): the Wadden Sea coast continues for about 500 km and is the longest unbroken stretch of mudflats world wide.

- The Ria Formosa is of a much smaller size, not containing similar dune and saltmarsh systems, while there also is a lack of very silty parts.

- The barrier systems of NorthISouth Carolina and Georgia (US East coast) have similar geomorphological characteristics but are very different from an ecological point of view because the intertidal flats are covered with Spartina, while these in the Wadden Sea are bare or partly covered by sea grasses (Zostera sp.).

- The barrier systems of Louisiana can not be compared because they have such a small tidal range that the majority of the sandbanks are permanently covered by the sea.

There is no similar area in northern latitudes to be found.