Marker Wadden

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Marker Wadden
Netherlands relief location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Marker Wadden
Location in the Markermeer
Location Municipality of Lelystad, Flevoland, Netherlands
Coordinates 52°35′N5°23′E / 52.583°N 5.383°E / 52.583; 5.383
Artificial islands of the Markermeer 1 = prototype 2 = Trintelzand [nl] 3 = Marker Wadden in pale = proposed islands (in 2022). Markermeer2022.jpg
Artificial islands of the Markermeer
1 = prototype
2 = Trintelzand  [ nl ]
3 = Marker Wadden
in pale = proposed islands (in 2022).
The first island seen from an airplane in 2017, still a virgin island Markerwad-01b.jpg
The first island seen from an airplane in 2017, still a virgin island

The Marker Wadden is an artificial archipelago under development in the Markermeer, a lake in the Netherlands. The first island was inaugurated on 24 September 2016. [1] It is a nature reserve alternative to the much bigger proposed Markerwaard polder that was begun in 1941, but paused following World War II and finally canceled in 2003.

Contents

Project

The project was proposed in 2012 by the Vereniging Natuurmonumenten. [2] [3] [4] The Dutch government, BirdLife Netherlands, ANWB, and VNO-NCW are partners in its development.[ citation needed ]

Work on the first phase, which is mainly focused on the construction of the first island, started in April 2016, [5] with Boskalis Westminster being awarded the contract. [6]

The main aims of the project are to create breeding grounds, islands, and coast line as well as to improve the water ecology of the Markermeer. The project creates a wetland comparable with the Wadden Sea—hence the name of the project—yet without tides. This is because the Markermeer is not connected to the sea and is in a fresh water environment. The nature reserve is accessible to tourists. [7] There is a ferry service from the city of Lelystad, itself a city built on reclaimed IJsselmeer land.

On 11 May 2016, the first new island was completed, Natuurmonumenten called this a "milestone". In March 2017, it was announced that four other islands should be completed before 2020. [8]

Flora and fauna

The islands have been colonized by large numbers of breeding birds. A colony of 200 breeding pairs of pied avocet has made the islands their home, as has a large colony of common tern. Little terns also breed on the islands. Northern shoveler, gadwall, garganey, Mediterranean gull, spoonbill, long-tailed duck and numerous other species of birds have been seen on and around the islands.

Participants

Contributions: Dutch government €19,000,000. [1]

Controversy

The ecologist Wouter van Dieren  [ nl ] claimed he first had the idea in 1996 and talks about "plagiarism". [9]

Events

In March 2024 Marker Wadden was the focus of a 50-strong scientific ecological conference investigating aspects of water ecology and coastal science organised by the Netherlands Centre for Coastal Research. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archipelago</span> Collection of islands

An archipelago, sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lelystad</span> City and municipality in Flevoland, Netherlands

Lelystad is a Dutch municipality and the capital city of the province of Flevoland in the central Netherlands. The city, built on reclaimed land, was founded in 1967 and was named after Cornelis Lely, who engineered the Afsluitdijk that made the reclamation possible. Lelystad is situated approximately three metres below sea level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Holland</span> Province of the Netherlands

North Holland is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. As of January 2023, it had a population of about 2,952,000 and a total area of 4,092 km2 (1,580 sq mi), of which 1,429 km2 (552 sq mi) is water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wadden Sea</span> An intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea (Netherlands, Germany and Denmark)

The Wadden Sea is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of low-lying Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands. It has a high biological diversity and is an important area for both breeding and migrating birds. In 2009, the Dutch and German parts of the Wadden Sea were inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List and the Danish part was added in June 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zuiderzee Works</span> Land reclamation in the Netherlands

The Zuiderzee Works is a system of dams and dikes, land reclamation and water drainage work, which was the largest hydraulic engineering project undertaken by the Netherlands during the twentieth century. The project involved the damming of the Zuiderzee, a large, shallow inlet of the North Sea, and the reclamation of land in the newly enclosed water using polders. Its main purposes are to improve flood protection and create additional land for agriculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marken</span> Village in North Holland, Netherlands

Marken is a village in the municipality of Waterland in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It had a population of 1,745 as of 2021, and occupies a peninsula in the Markermeer. It was, until 1957, an island in the former Zuiderzee. The characteristic wooden houses of Marken are a tourist attraction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common tern</span> Migratory seabird in the family Laridae with circumpolar distribution

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nieuw-Vennep</span> Town in North Holland, Netherlands

Nieuw-Vennep is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is located near the capital city Amsterdam as well as Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. It has a population of 31,415 (2021), and is a part of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, which ranks in top 15% of Dutch municipalities by income level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Markerwaard</span>

The Markerwaard is the name of a proposed, but never built, polder adjoining the IJsselmeer in the central Netherlands. Its construction would have resulted in the near-total reclamation of the Markermeer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Griend</span> Island in the Netherlands

Griend is a small uninhabited Dutch islet in the Wadden Sea, lying around 12 kilometres south of Terschelling. It is one of the West Frisian Islands, and belongs to the municipality of Terschelling. The island currently has an area of around 0.1 km2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zuid-Kennemerland National Park</span> Conservation area in North Holland, the Netherlands

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Vereniging tot Behoud van Natuurmonumenten in Nederland, also known as Vereniging Natuurmonumenten, is a Dutch nature conservation organization founded in 1905 by Jacobus Pieter Thijsse and Eli Heimans, that buys, protects, and manages nature reserves in the Netherlands. It is a member of the European Environmental Bureau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norderoog</span>

Norderoog is one of the ten German halligen islands of the North Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, which is part of the North Sea off the coast of Germany. A part of Hooge municipality, the island belongs to the Nordfriesland district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duinen van Texel National Park</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Markermeer</span> Lake in the central Netherlands

The Markermeer is a 700 km2 (270 sq mi) lake in the central Netherlands in between North Holland, Flevoland, and its smaller and larger neighbors, the IJmeer and IJsselmeer. A shallow lake at 3 to 5 m in depth, matching the reclaimed land to its west, north-west and east it is named after the small former island, now peninsula, of Marken on its west shore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Bant tern colony</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imstenrade</span> Village in Limburg, Netherlands

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Land reclamation in the Netherlands</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nieuw Land National Park</span> National park in Flevoland, the Netherlands

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References

  1. 1 2 Een nieuw stukje Nederland: de Marker Wadden zijn open
  2. ↑ Marker Wadden Charrette, 2013 The Cultural Ecology of Water in the Netherlands.
  3. ↑ Marker Wadden, droomplan wordt mogelijk - Natuurmonumenten (in Dutch), YouTube . Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  4. ↑ "VNO-NCW-baas De Boer wil spoed achter project Marker Wadden" (in Dutch), NU.nl , 25 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "Crowdfunding voor aanleg Marker Wadden" (in Dutch), De Stentor , 2016.
  6. ↑ Unique project: nature islands in the Markermeer: Marker Wadden (in Dutch), Vereniging Natuurmonumenten. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  7. ↑ Irwin, Aisling (26 April 2023). "Rewilding the planet: how seven artificial islands could help a dying Dutch lake". Nature . 616 (7958): 644–648. Bibcode:2023Natur.616..644I. doi:10.1038/d41586-023-01370-w. PMID   37100948. S2CID   258314442 . Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  8. ↑ "Nieuws over Marker Wadden".
  9. ↑ Hans Marijnissen, "'Plan Marker Wadden is puur plagiaat'" (in Dutch), Trouw , 11 February 2012.
  10. ↑ "Field trip to Marker Wadden kicks off Netherlands Centre for Coastal Research conference". www.un-ihe.org. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
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