Knowledge for a sustaineble future of the Wadden: intergrated research agenda of the Wadden-Academy-KNAW

The Wadden Academy is a new entity of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) which was officially founded on 30 July 2008 by decision of the Dutch government and as a reflection of the recommendations of the Meijer Committee. This publication is the integrated research agenda of the Wadden Academy. Wadden Sea research has for many years been dominated by the natural sciences. Socio-economic research and, to a lesser extent, historical research is grossly under-represented in terms of volume and importance. The Wadden Sea Area should figure more prominently on the research agenda of economists, historians, sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists and cultural scientists. They can identify those who feel involved in the Wadden Sea Area and in what way, how this involvement is justified in history, what interests are at stake, what reference images of the landscapes are used and how this will affect the future of the area. A key task for the Wadden Academy is to study changes which are taking place over different space and time scales and are the result of the interaction between the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere and humankind and society. In the approach adopted by the Wadden Academy, great value is attached to knowledge of the region’s long past and presen