On 16 October 1990, 30 years ago today, the Agreement for the Conservation of Seals in the Wadden Sea or the Wadden Sea Seal Agreement (WSSA) was signed in Bonn (D) by the Wadden Sea States, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. This was the first-first subsidiary agreement concluded under the auspices of the Bonn Convention (United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, CMS). The objective of this trilateral environmental agreement is to work closely together to achieve and maintain a favourable conservation status for the Wadden Sea seal population. The WSSA contains, among other things, provisions on research and monitoring, removal, habitat protection and awareness. The Joint Secretariat of the Wadden SeaVirchowstraße 126382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany: +49 4421 9108 0Fax: +49 4421 9108 30E-Mail: info@waddensea-secretariat.org This trilateral cooperation is based on a joint declaration on the protection of the Wadden Sea, adopted by environment ministers in 1982 at an intergovernmental conference of the three Wadden Sea states. Since then, intergovernmental conferences have been held regularly, prepared by the Wadden Sea Joint Secretariat. The Secretariat also supports and coordinates all cooperation actions and publishes reports and documents. A trilateral plan for the Wadden Sea was adopted in 1997, which sets out the main common conservation and management measures. A Trilateral Monitoring and Assessment Programme (TMAP) is intended to assess the implementation of the measures set out in the plan and to provide data on the state of the Wadden Sea ecosystem. The Agreement on the Conservation of Seals in the Wadden Sea is an agreement between the countries of the Wadden Sea to protect seals and concluded in 1990 under the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). The agreement entered into force on 1 October 1991, which will be recalled in autumn 2021 by a special event. The agreement was concluded between the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. The agreement area includes: in the Netherlands, the areas covered by the Wadden Sea Key Planning Decision.
In Germany – the wadden Sea national parks and the protected areas under the Nature Protection Act beyond the main dike and the brackish water limit, including the Dollard In Denmark – the Wadden Sea Nature Reserve. [2] This cooperation aims to protect and preserve the habitat of the Wadden Sea so that diverse and dynamic natural processes can develop in this area. Another objective is to intensify the dialogue with all user groups and demands. Within the European Union, cooperation has been initiated in cross-border INTERREG projects. Current projects are Building with Nature, Nakuwa, WaddenAgenda and PROWAD LINK. As a World Heritage manager, the Wadden Sea Trilateral Cooperation (TWSC) works closely with UNESCO and its World Heritage Centre (WHC), mainly within the framework of UNESCO`s programmes Marine World Heritage and World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism….
