WELCOME TO THE WADDEN SEA SOCIETY WEBSITE

We are an environmental NGO promoting the protection and sustainable use of the Wadden Sea area.

The Wadden Sea, Europe's largest intertidal wetland, is situated between the mainland of The Netherlands, Germany and Denmark and a string of islands. The Wadden Sea Society is supported by more than 45.000 members. The Wadden Sea Society was established in 1965 in order to prevent the building of two dams connecting the island of Ameland with the mainland. The intervention of the Wadden Sea Society was successful: the dams were never built..

Today our mission is to preserve the characteristic values of the Wadden area for future generations. The society calls attention to cases of degradation and promotes improvements as well as new developments that contribute to the responsible management of this unique area. They try to inspire others and to develop activities that are conducive to generate an interest in and an understanding of the necessity to preserve the area.
The Wadden Sea Society tries to achieve these aims by a mix of dialogue with other interest groups and authorities, lobbying, legal pressure and actions aimed at generating publicity.
Education and communication are also important aspects of our work. The main focus of our efforts is on the Dutch part of the Wadden Sea, but we also play an active role in international consultations, both in the context of the trilateral Wadden Sea Co-operation between Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands and at the European level.

Recently much attention has been and will be given to the following issues:

Sustainable development ( ports and harbours, fishery)
Contact: Ester Kuppen (+31517-493654), Paddy Walker (+31517-493675)

Exploitation of natural gas resources located under the Wadden Sea
Conctact: hidde van Kersen (+31517-493670)

Policy and methods to assess various developments in de area in the light of the Habitat and Bird-directives.
Contact: Anky Woudstra (+31517-493663)

Improvement of the trilateral cooperation.
Contact: Herman Verheij (+31517-493640)

Shipping Safety and emergency response.
Contact: Ellen Kuipers (+31571-493651)

Military activities
Contact: Ellen Kuipers (+31571-493651)

You will find extensive and up-to-date information on all our projects on the website.
Unfortunately they are, for the time being, all in Dutch. You can get English information by calling the contacts listed above.