It was a privilege to be asked to speak at a recent conference in Germany, to celebrate the inscription of the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site.
I gave an in-depth presentation about the Jurassic Coast, and covered many best-case examples of how we work closely to the principles of sustainable tourism.
Taking part in a stakeholder workshop, helped to determine an initial action plan following their inscription. I led the session on ‘Organisation and Financing’ and was able to contribute much to other sessions including website development and marketing.
All in all it was a successful trip and a great opportunity to share best practice with our international partners. It also highlighted just how far we have come since our own inscription in 2001.
Julia Pulman, Jurassic Coast Marketing & Communications Officer.
Information about the Wadden Sea:
The Wadden Sea covers 400km of coastline spanning the Dutch and German coasts, described here from an excerpt taken from the Wadden Sea website:
‘The Wadden Sea comprises the Dutch Wadden Sea Conservation Area and the German Wadden Sea National Parks of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. It is a large temperate, relatively flat coastal wetland environment, formed by the intricate interactions between physical and biological factors that have given rise to a multitude of transitional habitats with tidal channels, sandy shoals, sea-grass meadows, mussel beds, sandbars, mudflats, salt marshes, estuaries, beaches and dunes. The inscribed site represents over 66% of the whole Wadden Sea and is home to numerous plant and animal species, including marine mammals such as the harbour seal, grey seal and harbour porpoise. It is also a breeding and wintering area for up to 12 millions birds per annum and it supports more than 10 percent of 29 species. The site is one of the last remaining natural, large-scale, intertidal ecosystems where natural processes continue to function largely undisturbed.’