Participatory development process of the single integrated management plan for the transnational Wadden Sea World Heritage site (SIMP)

The purpose is to achieve a successful transboundary management plan integrating the levels needed for effective management. An exercise to imagine what would make the SIMP a success was useful to manage expectations, and guide and adapt the process.

1. Preparatory phase: the trilateral Task Group World Heritage, overseeing the SIMP development, agreed on the purpose to improve management coordination at the trilateral level. Considering the suggestions from site management and policy levels and the Operational Guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, a roadmap and content were agreed upon.
2. The content development in the TWSC: draws upon the existing governance of the cooperation. The working groups supported the drafting of the SIMP’s content in regard to climate change effects and adaptation, education, sustainable tourism, research, monitoring, assessment, etc. Preliminary content was iteratively reviewed and enriched by the TWSC groups, the site managers, the trilateral Task Group World Heritage, and the Wadden Sea Board.
3. Consultation beyond the TWSC: external stakeholders, and members of advisory boards in each of the German Federal States, Denmark, and the Netherlands, reviewed and commented on the draft SIMP.

A similar process is foreseen for assessing the progress and adapting activities.

The purpose is to have a good transboundary understanding of the national nature conservation systems and how the people and organisations involved work together on a trilateral level. This deep understanding supports the improvement of the implementation of coordinated management and the linking of national to trilateral (and vice-versa) policies, plans, and activities.

In the Trilateral Governmental Cooperation, each country has its own political culture and priorities. This has an influence on the governmental and civil society structures and thus on decision-making processes, which in turn influences nature conservation and management.

The national nature conservation structures clarify which are the different public organisations and the different geopolitical levels that are responsible for planning, policy-making, and implementing nature conservation activities on the ground. Also required was a definition of nature conservation site managers, their roles, and competences per country. These elements are key to consider while developing a transnational integrated management plan (SIMP).

All the groups with competences in nature conservation are represented in the trilateral governance structure. Some at the decision-making body the Wadden Sea Board, and others in the different working groups.

The purpose is to add World Heritage-specific criteria and values to complement the existing nature conservation management, thus emphasizing that the World Heritage designation is the utmost international acknowledgment for a natural area.

The Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention (§ 111) state that an adaptive management cycle of planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and feedback is among the elements of effective management. In the SIMP development process, the existing TWSC management instruments (activities, policies, plans, and strategies) are organised and visualised in the corresponding phases of the adaptive management cycle (see graph).

To assess existing and potential positive and negative effects on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the Wadden Sea World Heritage, ten key values were identified from the three criteria met by the Wadden Sea (method used in the Climate Vulnerability Index). A rapid expert assessment of the positive and negative effects of the SIMP key topics on each of the ten OUV key values supported the discussions of potential management activities (see graph).