WAD was – WAD can we do? Progress of the WADWAD project

- Authored by WADWAD -

The WADWAD project takes a historical perspective on the Wadden Sea to enable reflection upon the contemporary way we use and inhabit our coastal area and the land-sea transition zones. Overall aim of "WAD was - WAD can we do?" is to develop a trilateral sediment action plan for the land-sea transition zone, synthesising historical and current research on sediment dynamics and coastal adaptation measures together with an exploration of the natural values and social acceptability of potential interventions at key administrative stakeholders and local citizens. The project will create a think tank of experts from various disciplines, integrate existing knowledge through (historical) data mining, sediment modelling and co-design and co-create transdisciplinary knowledge for local to regional policy and management advice. The project consists of five work packages (WP).

WP 1: WAD was? Sedimentary background

The main objective of WP 1 is to define focus areas of highest pressures and need for adaptation along the trilateral Wadden Sea and mainland coast in a"heat map" developed in a participatory approach . This map represents a multi-criteria data visualisation based on geoscientific, historical and paleoecological data. Detailed information such as elevation from LiDAR, bathymetric data, geological successions, land use data, soil type data, hydrological data, and many other physical parameters enable the definition of high-risk areas against the background of an accelerating sea level rise and also potential areas for local pilot projects. In a participatory approach, stakeholders are involved in developing a vision, identifying objectives, threshold conditions, adaptation options and pathways. Over the past year, the team of WP1 has conducted in-depth data mining and consolidation of diverse datasets and scientific studies focusing on the coastal plain and the barrier islands in the Wadden Sea region. This effort provides a solid foundation for future risk analyses and ensures that the further work of the project builds on existing knowledge while adding new insights.

WP 2: Effectiveness of Wadden Sea sediment solutions

WP2 created a sediment model in which current and future management strategies can be explained and evaluated. This model can be used to determine the different sediment flux processes that play a role on the respective islands and main coast, resulting in a summary of the Wadden sea barrier islands and hinterlands using archetypes based on the geomorphological processes. Considering this framework, WP2 has collected remote sensing data to quantify the geomorphic/volumetric effects of the different land-sea interface management strategies. Preliminary results show that sites with ‘nature-based’ solutions were capable of raising the land sufficiently to counter sea level rise over the past 20 years. The WP2 members are now finalising the analysis and first paper. Next to the literature review and evaluation of the land-sea interface management strategies, discussion and preliminary works have started on setting up a model that will be able to predict the effects of these strategies in the future under climate change scenarios.

WP 3: Socio-ecological evaluation of future policies

WP 3 focuses on the socio-ecolgical evaluation of future policies and has two main objectives. The first objective is to develop the system of nature points for the trilateral Wadden area and apply it to different case studies and policy scenarios. The second objective is to evaluate from both an ecological and a broad social perspective the different long-term land-sea transitions zone plans and policy scenarios using the evaluation method Multi-Criteria Cost-Benefit Analysis (MCCBA) in which monetary impacts are combined with the nature points impacts. In order to evaluate the value of different habitats in the Wadden Sea, WP3 developed a framework that takes into account three values that will allow a more structured understanding of ecological significance of three aspects of habitat value: size of habitat, condition or quality of ecosystem, and rarity or threat status of a habitat type. The cumulative measure will provide a consistent value of relative ecological importance of different areas, which will inform comparative assessment of different policies. Furthermore a new approach has been developed to assess the natural environment in the Wadden region. Using satellite images and habitat maps, WP3 will begin mapping key land and sea areas.

WP 4: Assessment of citizen adaptation potential

Rural coastal regions have received little attention with regard to individual, household-level, and societal adaptations to climate change and environmental transformations. This also affects the Wadden Sea region. Yet, the local population represents a central lever for implementing adaptation measures on a broader societal scale. Promoting and supporting locally initiated adaptation actions is therefore essential. Against this background, WP4 examines the adaptive capacity of coastal residents in the Wadden Sea region of Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. The aim is to gain a better understanding of how Ecosystem-based Solutions can be implemented in the region. As a preparatory step, global factors determining the adaptive behaviour of coastal residents are dissected from a systematic literature review. First results of this review show that key determinants include education, access to information, financial resources, income, and social networks. However, existing literature often describes and weighs these factors differently. Reasons often are the varying challenges across coastal regions: while some areas face difficulties in securing water supply, others struggle with erosion or salinisation. This variation highlights the importance of determinants that will subsequently be studied in greater depth within their respective local and small-scale contexts. WP4 therefore also plans to work on the level of local communities and co-produce tailor-made evaluation methods for the assessment of diverse coastal adaptation measures and policies. The planned analysis will include island, coastal as well as hinterland municipalities.

WP 5: Transdisciplinary knowledge generation

Within the WADWAD project, an important focus is on bringing together different knowledge backgrounds and interest groups who are connected to sediment management in the Wadden Sea. The main aim of WP5 is to organise, facilitate and support this process. Over the past year, a review of previous projects that applied a transdisciplinary approach has been completed. The aim of this review is to learn from earlier experiences of other projects and to build on what has proven effective, while also being aware of challenges that may arise. These insights are now being analysed and will form the basis for the design of the ongoing and future transdisciplinary process of the WADWAD project. In parallel, a first mapping of stakeholders from Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark has been created. This overview not only serves to capture the diversity of perspectives but will also provide the basis for selecting participants for a dedicated project Think Tank, in which key actors will work alongside the researchers to reflect, exchange, and co-develop a sediment action plan. The stakeholder mapping has also laid the foundation for a social network analysis. This social network analysis will trace knowledge exchange in the trilateral sediment knowledge system. It aims to understand whether and to which extent actors in the system are sharing knowledge, perceive existence of knowledge gaps, hold different or conflicting knowledge and see potential for the actual harmonisation of sediment knowledge in forms of adapted measurements, parameters or other decision-making procedures.

For more information and impressions, visit the project website