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Towards #IamWadden: A call for collective understanding and action

By Mansee Bal Bhargava 
Wadden is a social–ecological system—an ecological landscape intricately linked with and influenced by social and ecological dynamics. Protecting, governing, and sustaining a system like the Wadden requires examining and improving its ecological and social characteristics: the ecology, the use, the users, the organizations and institutions, all within a specific socio-cultural-economic-political context in which multiple other social–ecological systems interact. Such investigations help us understand the system and identify pathways for improvement.
Keeping the Wadden “natural”—or at least unchanged—demands a shift in how we understand it. A basic question follows: Do we aim to save the Wadden for the Wadden, or for us? The Wadden contains us, but the reverse is not true. To deepen this understanding, WADcouple began in October 2025 with two philosophical prompts: “If I am Wadden…” and “What does it mean to be like Wadden?” What is Wadden—a waterbody, land, or both? Which is more central: water, land, their interdependent life, humans, or development? WADcouple seeks to become the voice of the Wadden.
Keeping the Wadden as it is—let alone improving it—within such multivariate dynamics demands engagement with complex processes and uncertain outcomes. Understanding these processes and identifying solutions require organizing the vast amount of knowledge spread across disciplines and perspectives. There may be as many scholars studying the Wadden as there are species living in it. The accumulated scholarship may well rival the biodiversity of the region itself.
Yet this knowledge is scattered across disciplines, sectors, regions, ideas, and ideologies. For WADcouple, this fragmentation is both a challenge and an opportunity—to organize existing knowledge, emerging science, surprises, and societal perceptions. We have traditionally built science around work; WADcouple intends to build work around society—a society that understands not only words, but also the world of the Wadden. This requires a robust framework to document, analyze, synthesize, and communicate understanding. Curiosity and concern can emerge not only through research but also through imagination, art, craft, food, film, music, and more.
Our pragmatic entry point is the Social–Ecological System (SES) framework—a multivariate ontological structure incorporating natural, social, technical, institutional, and community variables to organize information and develop a grammar of the Wadden as a social–ecological system.
Two interlinked domains emerge: the social–ecological system of the Wadden and the knowledge of that system. WADcouple connects with the latter to better engage with the former. Managing the Wadden is, in essence, managing knowledge of the Wadden—yet these remain distinct tasks. Managing knowledge means managing the knowledge managers who pursue a shared goal: improving understanding of the Wadden system. The real test lies in how these knowledge managers cooperate and cocreate. Becoming the voice of the Wadden through WADcouple (or vice versa) begins with a mission of connection and moves toward curation, ultimately enabling cocreation of knowledge about the Wadden.
WADcouple has begun connecting with the “knowns”: the project’s primary stakeholders—the science community—across 8 Core Teams, 63 leads (13 super-leads, 46 co-leads), and their associated scholars, hosted across 26 universities, institutions, and organizations. Through them, WADcouple will couple with the “unknowns”: funders, government, civil society, communities, corporates, and all who affect or are affected by the Wadden. Wadden management, thus, involves managing people and institutions, policies and politics. WADcouple aims to help create honest conversations that lead to collective action and, eventually, better protection and management of the Wadden.
Wad is WADcollective. Forming this collective is essential. One can biomimic it as the ebb and flow of the Wadden—“ebb” as knowledge moving outward and “flow” as knowledge coming in. This continuum will help WADcouple connect ecology, society, and science.
Wad is WADconnect? Conversations about the Wadden are essential for its collective conservation. But what should these conversations be about? What language should they use? What imagery guides them? Since the shared goal is clear—protecting and managing the Wadden—one can begin by asking, If the Wadden could speak, what would it say? Perhaps more than science alone can express—something that reaches common sense and conscience.
Below are initiatives envisioned for the WAD collective, not to reinvent the wheel but to strengthen existing structures and expand outreach. WADlogues will be a conversation series with scholars and associates, similar to Wednesdays for Water and Friday Waters by the WforW Foundation. The idea extends to possibilities like a Wadden TEDx (TED) or a dedicated WADx/yWAD.
WADConnect will be a bimonthly newsletter carrying scientific updates, socio-economic–political insights, and the voice of the ecology, welcoming poems and artworks. Special editions in platforms such as the The Commons Journal and edited volumes may also be explored.
Wade de Wadden will be a “Walks n’ Talks” series marking Earth Day, World Water Day, World Oceans Day, Biodiversity Day, and more. Imagination extends to a WADathon celebrating 50 years of the Trilateral Agreement (2028), and artistic engagements inspired by groups such as The Herds. A “March for Marsh,” inspired by Gandhi’s Salt March, is another idea.
WADline will be a digital platform compiling Wadden-related resources in one place—for example the Brandaris Lighthouse,WEC Museum, Sense of Place, Dubbele Dijk video), Schiermonnikoog Webcam, Wadvaarders, and Greenmapper. It may later host MOOCs on the Wadden.
Women of Wadden will highlight women’s contributions, inspired by initiatives such as the Global Water Partnership’s Women in Water campaign, Bayer Foundation’s Female Science Talents, Vogue’s Women in Mangroves, and WICCI-WRC’s Monday Munching-Musing.
Waders of the Wadden will trace scattered scholarship—like wading birds foraging across mudflats—and integrate it with mainstream natural and social science.
WADshop will share pre- and post-workshop information from partners and may evolve into a hub for Wadden-themed merchandise, educational material, and long-term multilingual, multidisciplinary engagement.
WADumentary will document scientific work through films and videos—for example The Climate Challenge (Nature in Focus – Rakesh Rao). Possible collaborations with NatGeo, Discovery, BBC, DW, and regional channels can be explored.
WADfest will bring intellectual content into emotional and cultural spaces through art, literature, films, sports, and regional rituals.
WADference will gather information on conferences and events relevant to the Wadden, including the UN Water Conference (Dec 2026), World Bank Land Conference, IUCN/Ramsar events, IASC Biennial (June 2027), COP31–32, World Lake Conference, World Congress of Soil Science, and World Water Week.
WADever will be a social–intellectual space for smart, humorous, and authentic social-ecological conversations, amplifying all WAD initiatives through social media.
These initiatives are not the formal scope of WADcouple but explorations of what is possible to connect science and society. The aim is not to reinvent the wheel but to organize its many spokes for #OneWadden. Knowledge already exists—scattered yet abundant—and can be unified through collective design principles: scope, communication, commitment, compliance, sanctions, congruence, and nested decision-making.
WADcouple is an investment in the future of the Wadden and its communities, who deserve to know that resources are being used wisely for their wellbeing and that of their environment. Building a “Grammar of the Wadden” is a collective responsibility. WADcouple may be a seed toward an ontological framework for such a grammar—a medium to walk and work together in symphony.
While many initiatives for the Wadden have had names, connecting Wadden science with society requires breaking and bridging barriers—starting with language. A language that resonates with the Wadden community fosters understanding, association, appreciation, and aspiration. Wadden needs a campaign, a movement: #IamWadden.
Is WAD in your thoughts? Share with us at mansee.bal.bhargava@uni-oldenburg.de

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