Wadden Sea and Hallig Islands of Schleswig-Holstein Biosphere Reserve

UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, inscribed 1990, in Germany. The Wadden Sea along the North Sea coast is one of Germany’s few remaining large-scale natural landscapes. It is protected as a national park, and its global uniqueness has been recognised through designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The tidal flats and creeks, salt marshes and sandbanks are largely preserved in their original state. The Wadden Sea has the highest bird numbers in Europe. Three UNESCO biosphere reserves encompass the entire German Wadden Sea, located in Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. In 2016, they established a cooperation agreement to pave the way towards a unified biosphere reserve. The Wadden Sea along the coast of the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein is one of the largest national parks in Europe and was designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1990. The designation includes an extension to cover the Hallig islands, five small inhabited islands without protective dykes.