Exactly 50 years ago today (3 January 1976), the flood of the century raged across the North Frisian Wadden Sea, threatening dykes and the inhabitants behind them, and flooding the dwelling mounds on the flat Halligen islands. This was also the case on Hilligenley on Hallig Langeneß, where I was in charge of the Wadden Sea Conservation Station at the time. You can read about how I experienced the storm surge and what developments in nature and coastal protection resulted from it (including the creation of the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park) in our book on the East Atlantic Flyway of Coastal Birds.
While coastal protection (often combined with agricultural interests) and nature conservation were hostile to each other at the time, today there are more similarities in the question of how the Wadden Sea with its salt marsh islands (Halligen) can be preserved in the face of expected climate-induced sea level rise. This will also be the topic of our 4th East Atlantic Flyway Seminar in April on Hallig Langeneß.