Wadden Sea Quality Status Report

The Wadden Sea Quality Status Report (QSR) is a conglomeration of thematic reports on the Wadden Sea World Heritage, Wadden Sea islands and offshore areas. The reports are sorted in five sections: geomorphology, habitats, species, human activities and pollution.

The QSR describes and evaluates the current ecological status of the Wadden Sea. It identifies changes in this status and their possible causes, classifies issues of concern and indicates possible measures of redress, including evaluation of the likely effectiveness of these measures, and it detects gaps in knowledge. The QSR is an output of the Trilateral Monitoring and Assessment Programme (TMAP). Reports of 2009 and 2004 as well as the 2010 synthesis report can be downloaded via the Secretariat's website.

The Trilateral Monitoring and Assessment Programme is the common monitoring programme for the Wadden Sea carried out since 1997 by Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands within the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation. The programme aims to facilitate adequate, cost-effective monitoring and integrated science-based assessments of the Wadden Sea ecosystem, while considering the Member States’ monitoring and reporting requirements under the relevant EU Directives and international conventions. TMAP provides an important and scientifically sound evidence base for decision making and policy development at all levels, delivers essential contextual information to support the management of the Wadden Sea as a single ecological entity, supports the reports on directives and the World Heritage status, and enables integrated assessment to be undertaken, which is an essential prerequisite for the application of the ecosystem approach. The programme further provides information on the progress of trilaterally set targets and facilitates the discussion on future priorities.

The Quality Status Report was written by over 100 scientists and edited by the QSR Editorial Board together with CWSS. Members of the 2015-17 Board are Martin J. Baptist (Waddenacademie, Wageningen University & Research), Christian Buschbaum (Alfred-Wegener-Institut), Lars Gutow (Alfred-Wegener-Institut), Gerard Janssen (Rijkswaterstaat), Kai Jensen (Hamburg University), Henrik Pind Jørgensen (Danish Nature Protection Agency), Klaus Schwarzer (Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel), David Thieltges (NIOZ), as well as Folkert de Jong, Sascha Klöpper and Gerold Lüerßen (Common Wadden Sea Secretariat).

       
              
             

We are grateful to all those whose input has been used in this report. We would like to thank the members of the Trilateral Task Group Mangement and Monitoring for their advice. Special thanks goes out to the over 100 QSR authors and the Editorial Board for their time and effort.

 

For information on editorial and content changes made since first publication, please consult the change log.

 

Each report as a colophon below the references. As a whole the QSR should be cited as:

Kloepper S., Baptist M. J., Bostelmann A., Busch J.A., Buschbaum C., Gutow L., Janssen G., Jensen K., Jørgensen H.P., de Jong F., Lüerßen G., Schwarzer K., Strempel R. & Thieltges D. (2017) Wadden Sea Quality Status Report 2017. Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Downloaded DD.MM.YYYY. qsr.waddensea-worldheritage.org

 

The Wadden Sea Quality Status Report is supported by