1. Introduction

The project LancewadPlan, running from 2005 until 2007 and financially supported by the Interreg IIIB North Sea program, focuses on the management and planning issues of our unique cultural landscape and heritage.
The project has its background in the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation, that is to say 25 years of cooperation between Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands for the protection of the Wadden Sea. Within this cooperation, a workshop on the landscape and cultural heritage of the Wadden Sea Region was held in September 1997 in Ribe, Denmark, with the participation of experts, policy-makers and planners of the three countries. The aim of the workshop was to consider the heritage in its entirety and to develop recommendations for the 1997 Wadden Sea Conference.
At this Conference, the Trilateral Wadden Sea Plan (WSP), which is the framework for the overall Wadden Sea management, was adopted. It is a statement on how the three countries envisage the future coordinated and integrated management of the Wadden Sea Area.
The policy and management of the WSP with regard to landscape and culture entails some relevant agreements which are important for the project aims and management strategies:

• The cultural-historic and landscape elements of the Wadden Sea Area will be protected and conserved through appropriate planning and management.

• The awareness of the area’s cultural-historic and landscape values will be enhanced, where possible and appropriate, on a joint basis.

These agreements have led to a first project (Lancewad) of making an inventory of the cultural landscape and heritage values. Based on and in continuation of the Lancewad project, LancewadPlan aims  at extending and enhancing the development, management and sustainable use of the common trans-boundary landscape and cultural heritage of the Wadden Sea Region. in cooperation with the relevant governmental and non-governmental stakeholders, complementing the natural and environmental facet of the region thereby taking into account the regional diversity.

In exchange of knowledge and experience in the field of cultural management issues, new links have been made. The Wash Estuary Strategy Group from the UK, which has elaborated an estuary management plan for sustainable use and integration of cultural landscapes and heritage, is a most valuable and competent partner in the LancewadPlan project.

From the very beginning of the project implementation, after the establishment of the national working groups and the cooperation structure, the project has wanted to involve external experts, stakeholders and the public. For this reason, a workshop was organized.

The aim of the workshop was to engage the participants in an open dialogue about visions, management procedures and strategies for the preservation and development of the cultural landscape and heritage of the Wadden Sea Region.