At the occasion of celebrating the 10 years anniversary of the Wadden Sea World Heritage (which is also an LT&C-Example), a booklet about the Wadden Sea Flyway Initiative has been published. The booklet provides, among others, an overview of the Wadden Sea Flyway Initiative’s bird monitoring results. Key findings of the EAF Assessment 2017 report are compared with trend data on breeding and migratory birds in the Wadden Sea to find out if the reasons for declining populations in the Wadden Sea can be identified in the other areas of the East Atlantic Flyway or in the Wadden Sea. The brochure concludes with a short overview on how monitoring and capacity building is needed for conservation and management of wetlands.

Ideally, the initiative will lead to more complete protection of a chain of key areas along the flyway, whether these are wintering areas of coastal birds in West-Africa or breeding areas in the Arctic. In several cases, nature-based tourism could become an important supportive factor. One of the next occasions, where opportunities for linking eco-tourism and protected areas, specifically in the Arctic, will be discussed, is a Round Table event at the Northern Sustainable Development Forum, September 24-28 in Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia. One example to be discussed there could be the LT&C initiative for a national park on Taimyr.