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Imidlertid er de nærmest forestående ændringer i vade-
havsområdet mere af socioøkonomisk art. Den danske del
af Vadehavet er ikke som den tyske og den hollandske del
blevet udnævnt til verdensarv, men i efteråret 2010 blev om-
rådet udnævnt til Danmarks tredje nationalpark. Det forven-
tes, at denne udnævnelse vil tiltrække mange besøgende, og
at turisterhvervet i området som følge deraf vil vokse. Der-
med kan tendensen til at se området som et rekreativt land-
skab i højere grad end et produktionslandskab blive styrket.
Måske får dette en gennemgribende betydning for, hvordan
man vælger at imødegå fremtidens udfordringer.
Summary
The Danish section of the Wadden Sea coast is the
northernmost part of the Dutch-German-Danish Wadden Sea
coast, and it differs in many ways from the other sections
of this coastline. First and foremost, it is much shorter –
with its 90 kilometres it comprises only about 10% of the
total Wadden Sea coast. Compared with the other stretches
along the Wadden Sea in Germany and Holland, Denmark
has very slender marshes, few and small dwelling mounds –
elevations constructed in the marsh on which to build houses –
and very recent dikes. On the other hand, one can become
acquainted along the Danish section of the coast with many
of the Wadden Sea area’s typical features in a relatively
limited area.
The Wadden Sea landscape is distinguished by constant
change. The forces of nature move around the landscape –
sometimes from one day to the next – with violent storm
surges, at other times with slow, almost imperceptible
processes which result in islands disappearing into the sea
after centuries of becoming smaller and smaller. Mankind
has also helped to shape the landscape by building houses
and dikes and recovering and cultivating land. In the Middle
Ages, the peasants moved out on to the mounds in the
marshes, but in some places they had to re-establish after
storm surges.
Differing forms of adaptation to, and use of, the coastal
marsh areas can be seen from north to south along the
Danish Wadden Sea coast. Towards the north is the undiked
marsh at the mouth of Varde River, where the area’s farms
lie like pearls on a string along the high geest, while the
lower-lying areas have not been built on, and they are
regularly flooded by seawater. Further south is the diked
marsh which is flooded by the river water, dammed up by
the westerly storm when the sluice gates are closed. In the
southernmost part of the Danish marshlands is the diked
and drained marsh, where the water is pumped up from the
water meadows into the river.
From east to west, the Tønder marsh’s dikes tell the
history of diking and land reclamation. To the east is the
market town Tønder, which was once a harbour town. The
first sea dike was built in 1556, and more have followed, so
the town is now 15 kilometres from the coast. The last dike
was built in 1982, when diking was no longer being done to
create farming land, but primarily to protect the population
in the areas behind the dikes.
Climate change can mean that in the years to come, it
will again be necessary to decide how to react to a rising
sea level. Will the dikes be built higher to secure the area
behind them, or will land be given back to the sea, as the
farmers of the past did? The Danish Wadden Sea area was
declared a national park in 2010. Perhaps this will have some
significance for how the challenges of the future are met.
Noter
1. Denne artikel er en bearbejdet version af et indlæg holdt
på konferencen Küstenwandel als kulturelle und soziale He-
rausforderung på Sild i februar 2010. Indlæggene fra kon-
ferencen er udgivet i: Ludwig Fischer und Karsten Reise
(Hrsg.): Küstenmentalität und Klimawandel. Küstenwandel
als kulturelle und soziale Herausforderung. Oekom Verlag
München. 2011. For en generel introduktion til den dan-
ske del af Vadehavet og dets kulturhistorie, se f.eks. Mette
Guldberg og Adam Schacke: Kulturhistorien i Vadehavsom-
rådet. Sjæk’len 2001. Årbog for Fiskeri- og Søfartsmuseet.
Esbjerg 2002, p. 27-47.
2. Hans Schultz Hansen, Lars N. Henningen & Carsten
Porskrog Rasmussen: Sønderjyllands historie 1. indtil 1815.
Historisk Samfund for Sønderjylland, Aabenraa 2008, p. 14f.
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