The rising levels of our global seas pose a serious threat to low-lying coastal communities. Nature itself can offer a solution.
No matter how muddy they are, wadden do not necessarily have the appeal of golden sand and coastal cliffs, but in an era of rising sea levels, these vast areas of tidal zones offer coastal communities around the world brash protection.
Nestled toward the upper reaches of the northern hemisphere, Germany may still seem largely out of reach for the long arm of global warming. But off the northwest coast of the country are a handful of small marsh islands, with a small population, where the reality of climate change is already knocking on the door.
Known as Halligen, or Hallig Islands, they are unique because even those inhabited are often flooded by the wilderness of the North Sea that swirls around them. With little to no seawall to protect them, residents have been living with the advancing salty waters for centuries, but as sea levels rise worldwide, some locals at Hallig Hooge begin to wonder how long they can remain realistic.
The emerald green island of Pellworm lies across the Wadden Sea the largest tidal flat system in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A remnant from a much larger coastal area that was swallowed hundreds of years ago during a fierce storm surge, Pellworm is now completely surrounded by gigantic protective dikes.
The locals will not accept life without them. Their removal, says Knud Knudsen a room that runs across the mudflats from Pellworm to Suderoog to deliver mail would mean the end of the island where he lived all his life.
But it is not just land and all those it supports that are threatened by the rising seas in this corner of Germany. The entire tidal system threatens to drown under the water that is currently exposing its ever-changing forms and sand twice a day.
And that, in turn, would allow the millions of birds that arrive from all corners of the world to nest, feed and breed in the wadden and salt marshes, with nowhere to go. That would, as in other areas of tidal zones, disrupt finely tuned ecosystems where worms, snails, crabs, fish, seals, birds, dolphins and many more species live.
It would also affect tourism and the way people live. In some low-lying areas around the world, conservationists are trying to find ways to work with the sea to meet the challenges of its consent. Instead of relying solely on dikes and walls, they argue for bringing back land to the sea through what is known as managed retreat, or managed reorganization. It is a controversial process, but they claim that if used in the right locations, it can make the ocean, wildlife and people live side by side.