Realisation program Eems Dollard Unterems

This vision was developed at the initiative of the Waddenvereniging and Groninger Landschap, in close collaboration with German nature conservation colleagues WWF Germany, BUND Niedersachsen, and NABU Niedersachsen. The starting point is a realization program in which nature and the economy both benefit from investments, leading to green growth, increased prosperity, better climate resilience, and above all, more nature.

Action is needed because the Eems have been in deep trouble for years (see also the table under 'impressions'). Interventions in the river delta have caused an imbalance in the area, manifested by murky water, oxygen depletion in the Unterems, abrupt transitions between fresh and salt water, and increasingly higher and less secure flood levels and flow velocities.

Quick wins

Stroming was tasked with creating a development sketch for the area and proposing measures that contribute to improving the ecological situation in the short term. Proposals for the longer term are explicitly not part of the assignment.

The focus is on projects that can start in the short term and serve as inspiration or pilots for full ecosystem restoration. The study includes proposals for the next ten years, considering both the technical aspects as well as the societal and economic perspectives.

3 pathways

Concrete action is needed in the shortest possible term along the following three paths: 

  1. Projects primarily aimed at ecological restoration.
  2. Projects with a different primary goal but also aimed at ecological restoration.
  3. Projects that increase people's involvement in the area.
report
Eems Dollard Unterems realisatieprogramma
Op initiatief van Waddenvereniging en Groninger Landschap, in nauwe samenwerking met de Duitse natuurbeschermingscollega’s WWF Duitsland, BUND Niedersachsen en NABU Niedersachsen
Auteurs
Gerard Litjens, Wim Braakhekke & Alphons van Winden
Publication year
impressions