If not their waters, then at least the experts of the world’s regional seas converged in Helsinki in late November to share best practices on the Sustainable Development Goal related to oceans and seas, SDG 14, and to start preparations on its joint outlook report to be presented at the Ocean Conference 2020.
The HELCOM-hosted workshop that took place in Helsinki from 25 to 27 November was a follow up of the UN Regional Seas Programme‘s Annual Meeting held in Berlin earlier in October and also co-hosted by HELCOM.
“Our organisations are truly the best place to translate the global visions into action at the regional level,” said the Executive Secretary of HELCOM, Rüdiger Strempel, during his opening remarks in Helsinki, referring to the driving role of the regional sea conventions and bodies on advancing the global environmental targets.
Two of the global frameworks, the SDGs and the Aichi targets, have long been important guidelines for HELCOM in working to conserve the global marine environment.
“The SDGs and Aichi targets are, in fact omnipresent in our everyday work,” said Strempel, adding that “both have proven to be key to advancing the ocean agenda, and decisively influence the policies we develop, the strategies we devise, the actions we implement.”
“At HELCOM and in the Baltic Sea, we believe that the various regional seas mechanisms can learn a lot from each other,” said Strempel, further stressing that despite HELCOM not directly being linked to the UN system, it continually takes account of the relevant UN goals and processes.
The other commitments were to establish a NOx Emission Control Area (NECA) in the Baltic Sea, to strengthen the implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan to support ocean-related SDGs, and to identify Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs) in the Baltic Sea.
Smarter use of nutrients in agriculture will be key to curb eutrophication in the Baltic Sea, as was emphasized during the last meeting of the HELCOM Group on Sustainable Agricultural Practices (HELCOM Agri) that took place in Berlin, Germany from 5 to 6 November 2019.
Consisting of representatives from environmental and agricultural stakeholders such as national authorities, industry associations and NGOs, the HELCOM Agri group primarily aims at reducing the nutrient inputs from agriculture to the Baltic. Excessive nutrient concentrations in the sea remain the lead cause for eutrophication and toxic algal blooms.
Growing ammonia emissions, regularly reported by the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP), and their subsequent deposition of nitrogen in the Baltic Sea are of particular scrutiny to the group as agriculture is the main source of emission of this gas.
The group compiled information on measures to reduce ammonia emissions which can be applied in agricultural practices, revealing that only a few of them have been implemented in almost all Baltic Sea countries.
“Ammonia emissions could be reduced through improved management of manure and better agricultural practices such as covering manure storage facilities, as well as injection and fast incorporation of manure to soils,” said Susanna Kaasinen, the project manager handling agriculture at HELCOM.
The group agreed that the currently valid HELCOM Recommendation on reduction of ammonia emissions is outdated, does not reflect modern state of scientific knowledge and is to be revised.
The group is also promoting smart nutrient management in the HELCOM countries by developing the Baltic Sea Regional Nutrient Recycling Strategy with the aim to close nutrient loops, return these valuable components to the food production and minimize their losses to the aquatic environment.
To advance smart nutrient management – one of the pillars of sustainable agriculture – the group has drafted HELCOM Recommendation on the use of national manure standards.
In Berlin, the Agri group also elected its new Chair, Ms Sari Luostarinen, a senior research scientist at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).
Polaris is an impressive vessel. Built in 2016, she is the most recent addition to the sizeable fleet of ice breakers based a mere ten-minute walk away from the HELCOM Secretariat in Helsinki. But does the fact that Finland maintains a fleet of heavy-duty ships to break the sea ice in her waters mean that climate change has not reached the Baltic Sea? Unfortunately not. In fact, this region is warming faster than Earth as a whole, and the sea ice cover has decreased dramatically since the middle of the 20th century. And there is more to come. Over the next 100 years, precipitation is expected to increase, but the snow season will likely become shorter and the sea ice cover could decline even further. Other effects of climate change in the Baltic Sea could include higher air and water temperatures, lower salinity, decreased oxygen levels and shifts in habitats and species distribution.
In other words, climate change is adding more pressure to a fragile ecosystem already affected by a wide variety of anthropogenic impacts, such as eutrophication, pollution, overfishing and habitat loss. But HELCOM is working to tackle this issue. A priority of the current Finnish presidency of HELCOM, climate change has long been on the agenda of our organization. Since 2007, HELCOM Ministerial Meetings have stressed that climate change will impact on the region’s marine environment and should therefore be reflected in HELCOM policies. In 2007, HELCOM published its first thematic assessment of climate change, jointly with BALTEX. More recently, in the Declaration of the Ministerial Meeting held in Brussels, Belgium in 2018, HELCOM Ministers not only reiterated their concern about the impacts of climate change but also stressed “the need for research and adaptive management to strengthen the resilience of the Baltic Sea in the face of climate change impacts”. They also agreed “to increase HELCOM’s preparedness to respond to climate change impacts, by taking foreseen climate change impacts into account when updating the Baltic Sea Action Plan and by exploring the needs and possibilities to further adapt HELCOM’s policies and recommendations 1) in line with existing objectives of protection of the marine environment and sustainable use of marine resources, also under the changing climate, and 2) to maximise the capacity of the Baltic Sea ecosystem to contribute to mitigation of climate change through blue carbon storage.”
In plain language: The Contracting Parties to HELCOM share the view that the ultimate aim of HELCOM’s work on climate change should be increased resilience of the Baltic Sea system to the impacts of climate change and that a long-term, multidisciplinary approach to understanding and communicating its implications for the region’s marine and coastal environment is needed. We are therefore working to establish HELCOM as a regional platform for policy-science dialogue on climate change, to provide robust, policy-relevant and research-based knowledge on the state, impacts and vulnerabilities of the Baltic Sea with respect to climate change and we are reviewing our policies with a view to promoting climate change adaptation.
While HELCOM’s various Expert Groups and networks already strive to take account of climate change, HELCOM has now taken the topic to the next level by establishing a dedicated Network on Climate Change (EN-CLIME), jointly with Baltic Earth, a focal point for technical marine climate change information and expertise in the region. Working in the context of our State and Conservation Working Group and consisting of experts from both organizations, EN-CLIME cooperates closely with both other HELCOM Groups and networks and external partners. One of EN-CLIME’s deliverables will be a climate change fact sheet. As a science driven exercise, the fact sheet is intended to offer policy makers a concise and easily accessible resource providing a consensus view by the region’s experts regarding relevant abiotic and biotic parameters, thus helping to bridge the science-policy gap. The fact sheet will then continually be updated to reflect advances in science and understanding of climate change as it relates to our region. Based on the best available science, we will also broaden the scope of the Baltic Sea Action Plan, HELCOM’s ambitious program of action for a healthier Baltic Sea, to encompass climate change when updating the plan for the post-2021 period.
Whether Polaris and her fellow icebreakers will still be needed 50 or 100 years from now is difficult to predict. But as we gain a better understanding of the dynamics and implications of climate change for the Baltic Sea, a clearer picture will emerge of what needs to be done to ensure a sustainable and liveable future for the Sea that defines our region and for the region as a whole.
Q: Climate change and the Baltic Sea: what are the facts and trends, what do we know?
Markus Meier (MM): According to the conclusions of the BACC II Author Team (2015), water temperatures of the Baltic Sea have been increasing during the past 100 years and are projected to further increase during the 21st century. According to recent future scenario simulations, ensemble mean changes in sea surface temperature averaged over the Baltic Sea between 1978-2007 and 2069-2098 range between 1.8 and 3.1°C depending on the underlying greenhouse gas emission scenario. Correspondingly, the annual maximum sea-ice extent has significantly declined during the past decades and will further decline in the future. Projections suggest that at the end of the century the Bothnian Sea and large areas of the Gulf of Finland and Gulf of Riga will become ice-free during normal winters. Past salt water inflows and observed salinities in the Baltic Sea do not show statistically significant trends but large multi-decadal variations on the time scale of about 30 years. According to the BACC II Author Team (2015), it is still unclear whether Baltic Sea salinity will increase or decrease as climate models have severe biases with regard to the freshwater balance. Since the beginning of Baltic tide gauge measurements in 1886, the mean sea level in the Baltic Sea has increased by more than 0.2 m and, for the 21st century, an accelerated sea-level rise is projected. However, the projections are highly uncertain and in the northern Baltic Sea glacial isostatic adjustment may counteract also the accelerated sea-level rise in the future.
Q: What are the implications on biodiversity?
MM: Changing temperature and salinity in future climate may have large impacts on species distributions and food web interactions. According to the BACC II Author Team (2015), species distributions and biodiversity of the Baltic Sea are particularly sensitive to changes in salinity due to the large salinity gradients and due to the fact that salinities of large areas are in a critical range of approximately 5 to 7 g kg-1. In this range, the numbers of both freshwater and marine species are at their minima. Hence, any systematic changes in salinity would considerably affect the habitats of marine and freshwater ecosystems. Further, the projected increase in water temperatures would enable the invasions of warm water species which have already been observed, but also the decline of other species. An example for the latter might be the potentially vulnerable, ice-breeding Baltic ringed seal (Phoca hispida botnica). Climate change might be a major threat to all southern populations in the Archipelago Sea, Gulf of Finland and Gulf of Riga and only the fairly good winter sea-ice habitat in the Bothnian Bay might guarantee the survival of the northern populations.
Q: What needs to be done, both short and long term?
MM: Today, the largest environmental threat of the Baltic Sea as a whole might probably be anthropogenic eutrophication. Hypoxic sea bottoms in the Baltic without higher forms of life have today approximately the size of the Republic of Ireland. According to the BACC II Author Team (2015), climate change is likely to exacerbate eutrophication effects in the Baltic Sea because of (1) increased external nutrient loads due to increased runoff, (2) reduced oxygen flux from the atmosphere to the ocean and (3) intensified internal nutrient cycling due to increased water temperatures. Hence, nutrient load abatement strategies as already agreed within the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) should rigorously be implemented. With the help of large coupled environment-climate model ensembles that allow us to estimate uncertainties, management questions can today successfully be addressed. Despite the large spread in future projections, the realization of the BSAP will lead to a significant improvement of the environmental status of the Baltic Sea. This result is independent of the applied climate model or the greenhouse gas emission scenario. Assuming an optimistic scenario with perfect implementation of the BSAP, projections suggest that the achievement of a Good Environmental Status will take at least a few more decades. To assess the status of the Baltic Sea environment and its changes and to further improve and evaluate Baltic Sea models, coordinated long-term measurement programs are indispensable.
About climate change assessments within Baltic Earth
Within the Baltic Earth programme, regular assessments of our knowledge about climate change in the Baltic Sea region are performed in order to synthesize scientifically legitimate literature. So far, two comprehensive books have been published (BACC Author Team, 2008 and BACC II Author Team, 2015) and, currently, a third assessment is underway. These sources of condensed information on climate change have previously been used by HELCOM for own climate reports and will also be used for the fact sheet on climate change that is currently under development by experts from HELCOM and Baltic Earth networks (EN CLIME).
References
BACC Author Team (2008). Assessment of climate change for the Baltic Sea basin. Regional Climate Studies, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, 474 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-72786-6.
BACC II Author Team (2015). Second assessment of climate change for the Baltic Sea Basin. Regional Climate Studies. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16006-1.
Jannica Haldin: The Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) assesses the latest scientific knowledge about the impacts of climate change on ocean, coastal, polar and mountain ecosystems, as well as on us humans who depend on them. It is a mirror, with which we can look back to see what has changed from past to present. However, it also lets us look into the future, projecting what changes we can expect in the sea, depending on the amount of greenhouse gases we continue producing.
When looking at what has already changed, we can see that the rate of ocean warming – the sea taking in and storing heat – has more than doubled, as has global mean sea level rise. In fact, to date, the ocean has taken up more than 90 percent of the excess heat in the climate system. It is also clear that over the last decades, global warming has led to mass loss of ice sheets and glaciers, reductions in snow cover, and Arctic sea ice extent and thickness. In response to ocean warming, sea ice and biogeochemical changes such as oxygen loss, marine species have undergone shifts in geographical range and seasonal activities. This has already resulted in changes in species composition, abundance and biomass production of ecosystems and altered interactions between species, causing cascading impacts on ecosystem structure and functioning.
But the report also looks forward, up to 80 years into the future. Our future ocean is projected to transition to unprecedented conditions, a combination of increased temperatures, greater upper ocean stratification, further acidification, oxygen decline, and altered net primary production – for instance linked to algal blooms – as well as reduced sea ice extent. As a consequence, over the 21st century, we can expect a further decrease in global biomass of marine animal communities and in their production, a shift in species composition, and a decline in fisheries catch potential. In turn, this is projected to affect income, livelihoods, and food security. Projected ecosystem responses include further losses of species habitat and diversity, and degradation of ecosystem functions.
The SROCC report also makes clear that impacts of climate change are already a reality, and when the pressures exerted by climate change are combined with pressures stemming from other human activities, the latter have the potential to intensify the warming-induced ecosystem impacts. The capacity of organisms and ecosystems to adjust and adapt to change is better the lower the total pressure on the system is. This means that the sea has a better chance to handle the changes under lower emissions but it also means that we need to work to manage other human activities to limit their negative effects, to give the ecosystem a fighting chance.
HOW DOES THAT RELATE TO THE BALTIC SEA?
Although the report looks at the global situation, it is highly relevant for our own sea. The Baltic Sea is a shallow, Northern sea, partially covered by sea ice and with a high coast to sea ratio. If they changes outlined in the report come to pass, they will impact a significant proportion of the approximately 85 million people living in the catchment. The report directly states that the effects of warming will be more pronounced on high latitudes and for temperate shallow estuaries with limited exchange with the open ocean, of which the Baltic is used as prime example. This translates into that the changes outlined globally will occur faster and with more impact here than in other places.
In addition to the changes which affect larger areas, the report outlines some changes where Baltic Sea specific information is available. This includes increased risk of water-borne disease in the Baltic Sea, with a nearly two-fold predicted increase in suitable conditions for Vibrio bacteria which can cause cholera. Wave height in the Baltic is also predicted to increase, and extreme sea level projections show a rise of up to 0.35 m towards the end of the century along the Baltic Sea coast. Long-term loss and degradation of marine ecosystems compromise the sea’s role in cultural, recreational, and intrinsic values important for our identity and well-being.
WHAT IS HELCOM DOING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE?
Overall, HELCOM aims at strengthening the sea’s resilience and own coping mechanisms, by improving the capacity of the Baltic Sea’s ecosystem to recover from stress and disturbance resulting from climate change impacts. HELCOM is a regional environmental policy maker, working on developing common environmental objectives and actions for the whole region, as well as providing information about the state of and trends in the marine environment. Both the objectives and the trend information can then form the basis for decision-making in the Baltic Sea countries and in other international fora. HELCOM strives to make climate change increasingly visible in marine policy making, as well as incorporate it into the day to day work of the Commission.
In practice, climate change work within HELCOM is focusing on understanding and communicating what climate change means for the marine and coastal environment. Climate change has a multitude of effects so it needs to be approached in that way, not from one single topic, but from every angle of possible importance to the sea.
To compile the available climate change information, HELCOM, together with Baltic Earth, earlier this year established a Joint Climate Change expert network (EN CLIME), currently consisting of over 60 experts from the entire region. Right now, EN CLIME is working on a Baltic Sea climate change fact sheet, to make sure that decision makers have the latest science on climate change and its impacts. Similarly to the IPCC report, the fact sheet will provide key messages on what has already happened and what we can expect in the future. However, the fact sheet will look specifically at our own region, covering a large number of topics, from how much it might rain, to what we can expect for seabirds, to possible impacts on maritime traffic.
What the IPCC report did on a global scale, the fact sheet will do at the regional level – empowering decision makers to tackle the transition facing the region and help underpin timely, ambitious and coordinated action. The statement from the IPCC report is as valid for the Baltic Sea as it is globally:
“The more decisively and earlier we act, the more able we will be to address unavoidable changes, manage risks, improve our lives and achieve sustainability for ecosystems and people – today and in the future.”
What can the Red Sea learn from its sister sea, the Baltic, and vice-versa? A high-level delegation from the Red Sea countries came to HELCOM on 28 August 2019 to exchange views on regional cooperation relating to marine environmental matters.
Like the Baltic, the Red Sea faces a multitude of pressures affecting a fragile ecosystem, demanding a concerted response from the coastal countries.
CMI (Crisis Management Initiative), an independent Finnish conflict resolution organization, facilitated the study visit. The Baltic Sea region provides a number of examples of demand driven interstate cooperation, developed over 45 years of collective efforts. CMI deals with similar interstate cooperation issues in various places around the world, for example in the Red Sea region.
Since its inception in 1974 with the signing of the Helsinki Convention, HELCOM has been widely recognised as a platform for successful regional cooperation on improving the environmental state of the Baltic Sea.
The study visit also included visits to the Mandatory Ship Reporting System in the Gulf of Finland (GOFREP), as well as briefing sessions by the Arctic Council and the Council of the Baltic States (CBSS).
On 1 August 2019 I assumed the position of Executive Secretary of HELCOM. I am very pleased to join such a well-established and mature organization that is based on solid foundations – the excellent work and in-depth knowledge of all things Baltic pooled in the various HELCOM working groups and expert networks, and the expertise and commitment of the HELCOM Secretariat staff need no further introduction here.
While much has undoubtedly been achieved, there is a consensus across the region that continued relentless efforts are required to improve the ecological and environmental status of the Baltic Sea. Issues such as eutrophication, nutrient management, marine litter and addressing the effects of climate change will therefore remain high on our common Baltic Sea agenda.
The Baltic Sea Action Plan has proven to be a good tool for responding to the challenges faced by the Baltic Sea. Its update by 2021 as agreed by the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting of 2018 will certainly continue to guide our current itinerary, as will its implementation.
HELCOM also remains committed to the regional and global efforts on oceans and seas. We will continue to strive for enhanced cooperation with our sister regional seas conventions, work towards the attainment of the Aichi targets on biodiversity, the ocean and sea related SDGs and, more broadly, enhanced synergies between our work and the Agenda 2030 process. Moreover, the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, which will run from 2021 to 2030, will also provide us with new opportunities to link our regional actions to the global processes.
Last but not least, I wish to acknowledge the excellent work done by my predecessor, Monika Stankiewicz. Her inspirational achievements during her tenure as Executive Secretary of HELCOM make it all the easier for me to continue the journey towards fulfilling our HELCOM vision: a healthy Baltic Sea environment with diverse ecological components functioning in balance, resulting in a good environmental and ecological status and supporting a wide range of sustainable economic and social activities.
On 1 August 2019, Rüdiger Strempel assumed the position of HELCOM Executive Secretary, after serving as Executive Secretary of the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat (CWSS) from January 2015 through July of this year.
An international lawyer by training, Rüdiger Strempel looks back on many years of experience of environmental law, policy, and diplomacy at the national and international levels, with a particular focus on international marine conservation.
“While much has undoubtedly been achieved, there is a consensus across the region that continued relentless efforts are required to improve the ecological and environmental status of the Baltic Sea. Issues such as eutrophication, nutrient management, marine litter and addressing the effects of climate change will therefore remain high on our common Baltic Sea agenda,” said Strempel who, during his tenure, will oversee see the update of the Baltic Sea Action Plan.
“The Baltic Sea Action Plan has proven to be a good tool for responding to the challenges faced by the Baltic Sea,” said Strempel in his welcome remarks, adding that the update of the plan as agreed by the HELCOM Ministers in 2018 “will certainly continue to guide our current itinerary.”
Further priorities will include honouring the global commitments such as those related to the UN Agenda 2030, the ocean-related SDGs and the Aichi Biodiversity targets, as well as strengthening cooperation with other regional sea conventions.
Strempel, a German national, has also worked as a consultant for a number of United Nations agencies, including the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
In addition, he has a background as a journalist and professional communicator and he is the author or co-author of numerous articles and several books.
Strempel has taken over from Monika Stankiewicz who led the HELCOM Secretariat from 2012 to 2019.
Two former pollution sites located in the Kaliningrad region in Russia were approved for removal from the HELCOM Hot Spot list by the HELCOM Heads of Delegation, one of the decision-making instances, during their last meeting held in Helsinki from 18 to 19 June 2019 – the 56th Meeting of the HELCOM Heads of Delegation(HOD 56-2019).
The first site to be removed from the list is the Kaliningrad wastewater treatment plant, or HELCOM Hot Spot No. 67. Newly constructed in December 2015, the upgraded wastewater treatment plant of Kaliningrad started to be fully operational by the end of 2016, with all of Kaliningrad’s sewage water redirected to the new plant.
“The new treatment plant fully complies with the HELCOM recommendation on municipal wastewater,” said Natalia Tretiakova, the Russian Head of Delegation to HELCOM. With its population of 574,000 people, the city of Kaliningrad was the biggest source of untreated wastewater input to the Baltic Sea in the Kaliningrad region until the launch of the new plant.
In the same meeting, the deletion of HELCOM Hot Spot No. 69, the Cepruss pulp and paper mill in Kaliningrad, Russia, was also approved. Cepruss was added to the list because of significant discharges of pollutants stemming from the processing of pulp and paper into the Pregolya river. The site ceased all production in 2011.
Since 1992, HELCOM maintains a list of significant pollution sites around the Baltic Sea – the HELCOM Hot Spots. Today, about three quarters of all hotspots have been cleaned up. The most notorious Hot Spots are point sources such as municipal facilities and industrial plants, but the programme also covers pollution from agricultural areas and rural settlements, and sensitive areas such as coastal lagoons and wetlands where special environmental measures are needed.
Furthermore, in Helsinki, the update of the Baltic Sea Action Plan(BSAP) featured prominently on the meeting’s agenda, with the Heads of Delegation moving forward on the structure of the updated plan. Maintaining the same level of ambition for the updated BSAP was a particular point of emphasis.
HOD 56-2019 also adopted the revised HELCOM Recommendation 28E/13 on Introducing Economic Incentives as a Complement to Existing Regulations to Reduce Emissions from Ships. Where implemented already, economic instruments have proven to increase environmentally friendly shipping practices beyond the existing legislation. Some of these methods include differentiated port fees and fairway dues, differentiated taxation of marine fuels and on-shore power supply.
The creation of an expert network on marine protected areas (MPAs) – HELCOM Network for Marine Protected Area Management (EN MPA MANET) – was also approved during the meeting in Helsinki. The new network will respond to the need for a concerted approach on the management of MPAs across the Baltic Sea region, especially for transboundary areas. It will provide expert input to HELCOM work related to MPA management, as well as conservation of habitats, biotopes and species in general, the relevant Ecological Objectives in the Baltic Sea Action Plan.
Bidding farewell to the current HELCOM Executive Secretary, Ms Monika Stankiewicz, who is due to leave the organization in July 2019, the Heads of Delegation singled out her excellent performance and acknowledged her instrumental role in lifting HELCOM to where it is today.
Stankiewicz has been at the HELCOM Secretariat since 2006 when she started as Professional Secretary for Maritime Affairs. She assumed the position of Executive Secretary in 2012 until 2019. She will be succeeded by Mr Rüdiger Strempel.
The current Executive Secretary of HELCOM, Ms Monika Stankiewicz, will step down from her position and hand over to her successor, Mr Rüdiger Strempel, on 1 August 2019. Strempel was appointed during the HELCOM Annual Meeting held in March 2019.
Stankiewicz has been at the HELCOM Secretariat since 2006 when she started as Professional Secretary for Maritime Affairs. She assumed the position of Executive Secretary in 2012 until 2019, for three terms.
Under her tenure, HELCOM not only consolidated itself as a champion of the environmental protection of the Baltic Sea but also as a heard and sought-after voice in the international debate on oceans and seas.
With the Second Holistic Assessment of the Baltic Sea(HOLAS II), Stankiewicz also oversaw the largest assessment of the Baltic Sea so far. Providing the most comprehensive insight of the Baltic Sea, the results are expected to underpin HELCOM work for a substantial period of time.
More recently, among other work, she introduced social and economic analysis to HELCOM, to closer link the state of the Baltic Sea’s environment with human wellbeing. This ecosystem-based approach acknowledges that we humans are an intrinsic part of the Baltic Sea environment and seeks to correlate our activities with the impacts they may have on the environment.
Her successor, Mr Rüdiger Strempel, a German national, currently heads the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat(CWSS) as its Executive Secretary. The CWSS was established in 1987 to service the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation(TWSC) between the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark on the protection of the Wadden Sea.
