Tag: Denmark

A National Park for the Baltic Sea? A Panel Discussion in Kiel

Against the background of proposals to establish a new marine national park in the territorial waters of the German Baltic Sea in Schleswig-Holstein, the Centre for Ocean and Society at Kiel University and the EnJust Network, organised an interdisciplinary panel discussion which took place in Kiel on the evening of January 17th. The panel discussion sought to combine perspectives from marine ecology (Jan Dierking, GEOMAR Kiel), philosophy (Konrad Ott), marine spatial planning (Kira Gee, Hereon), international law (Nele Matz-Lück, Kiel University) and geography / marine governance (my own contribution). Unfortunately, on the day both Kira and Nele were unable to attend. The panel discussion, focussed on the question of the suitability of various marine protection concepts for the conservation of the Baltic Sea, rather than debating arguments in favour or against a national park per se, was moderated by Annegret Kuhn and Christian Elster (both Kiel University). We spoke (in German) to an engaged audience from both Kiel University and associated research institutes and the wider public in a packed room.

Map of proposed National Park area (source: adapted from MEKUN)
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Crossing Borders and Blending Perspectives at the Wadden Sea

Poring over a map of the Wadden Sea, Rømø

In September 2022, I co-led a week-long international fieldtrip to the Wadden Sea coast at the border of northern Germany and southern Denmark. The fieldtrip was one part of a wider TriWadWalk partnership including universities in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. In May 2022, a first field trip took place, with a group of staff and students exploring the Wadden Sea coast and islands at the Dutch-German border. Both excursions were unusual for including a balance of staff and students (approximately 10 and 10) with emphasis placed on international exchange, interdisciplinary and intergenerational learning and the experience of being in and moving through ‘the field’. The staff came from the disciplines of geography, planning, tourism studies, anthropology, landscape architecture and environmental economics and are engaged to varying degrees in social science research at the Wadden Sea. The students brought a wider range of perspectives from their studies in both the environmental and social sciences. The fieldtrip developed from a longstanding collaboration between Wadden Sea researchers and educators at the universities of Bremen, Groningen, Hamburg, Lüneburg, Oldenburg and Southern Denmark and was generously supported by the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Wadden Academy, the Danish Wadden Sea National Park, and the University of Southern Denmark.

In the following, I provide a brief account of the week, informed by my own personal reflections. Where relevant, links to secondary sources for further information are provided.

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