For ten years I worked
as a tour guide in the Wadden Sea in the
German national park of Schleswig Holsteinisches
Wattenmeer. Since my birth I have been living
with my family, my mother, my husband, my
four children, my daughter-in-law and my
two grand children, on the Hallig (island)
Nordstrandischmoor at the western coast
of the most northern German state Schleswig-Holstein.
For 290 years our family has been running
a farm on this small island. As inhabitants
of this unique area of unspoiled nature,
created by the constant turning of the tides,
we are used to the ever changing moods and
the power of the sea. However, with global
warming many things are starting to change
for us too. The rising sea level has already
made storms increasingly dangerous.
Halligen (ten small German islands without
protective dykes on Schleswig-Holstein's
North Sea coast) are extremely vulnerable
to the rising sea level. In contrast to
a larger northern German island like Sylt,
the ten German Halligen do not have a dyke
and that is what makes them special. Storms
regularly lead to floodings and in German
we call this situation “Land unter” which
would normally happen roughly 30 times per
year. In that case all of us – the 18 inhabitants
of Nordstrandischmoor plus our sheep are
stuck on our Warft. The Warft, small hills
on which our forefathers once built their
houses, are often our last resort.
Like the "atolls of the north"
The mainland is not far away, but we are
only linked to it via a narrow rail track
dam on which we travel using a small lorry.
If the water rises higher than the dam,
we are completely cut off. You can consider
us the atolls of the north. Like the island
of Tuvalu, near Fiji, in the South Pacific
we lie unprotected amidst the sea and consequently,
our region is especially vulnerable to sea
level rise.
Within the last 100 years sea level has
been rising by roughly 0.3 metres in the
Wadden Sea along the German North Sea coast.
That does not appear to be a lot, but it
also means that the level during storm tides
rises higher and higher. Earlier the gauge
was at 1 metre above normal during land
unter, now it is usually 1.5 metres. At
such a level waters rises to the edge of
the Warft we therefore call these kinds
of floods Kantenfluten which means edge
floods. In this case the sea is sometimes
only three metres away from our house. This
happens more and more in recent years.
Sure, floodings are a natural part of the
Hallig-system and have created a very special
eco-system of plants and animals used to
the regular influx of salty water — the
salty meadows surround our houses and Warften
— but in the long run these higher storm
tides are dangerous. If the water rises
to the same high level each time, the turf
washes away bit by bit slowly destabilising
the Warft. However, a solid and stable Warft
is like our life insurance and for this
purpose we also keep sheep. The sheep’s
hooves pack down and solidify the turf in
summertime and this prepares the Warft for
the stormy winter season.
Weather has become highly unpredictable
What troubles me, is the unreliability
of the weather these days. Our last winter,
which lasts from October to March in northern
Germany, was completely unusual. We had
extremely long storm floods. They just kept
coming one after the other. We were lucky,
though, since Kyrill (a major storm that
hit the region in January 2007) changed
directions shortly before hitting the coast.
We were just touched by the edges of the
storm. If we had been hit by the storm with
full power, our houses and the Hallig would
have suffered severe damage.
The last winter we did not have any of
the usual ridges of high pressure or frost
periods there were just rain and storms.
The common mixed weather of former times
has been replaced by very long wet or very
long dry periods in recent years and that
is quite unusual for us.
This summer everything has been turned
upside down, too. We already had Land unter
twice in June and July which normally never
happens at that time of the year. Because
of the flooding in July we had to bring
our beehive from the Hallig to the mainland
one and half months earlier than usual.
The salty water had destroyed the blossoms
of the sea lavender which grows in the salty
meadows and without their only source of
nutrition the bees would have died.
Until now daily life on our Hallig has
only slightly changed. However, should floods
in the future occur in summer too and should
the weather become more and more erratic
two members of our family will have to stay
on the Hallig at all times in order to drive
the animals on the Warft in case of emergency.
That will be immensely time consuming. Christmas
2006 was already difficult due to the permanent
floods and I had to order my presents via
the internet for the first time as I couldn’t
leave the Hallig.
The longer and more frequent Land unter
will take place, the more often tourists
will have to stay overnight on the mainland
before coming over to us. The holiday apartment
is an important source of income for us
next to the subsidies we receive from the
state for preserving the Hallig through
our agricultural work.
Future for life on the Hallig is uncertain
However, my greatest concern is how long
it will be possible for my family to live
on the Hallig in the long term. My son would
like to take over the farm one day. But
should the sea level keep on rising and
storm intensity increase in the future,
I doubt that the next generation will have
a safe future here and that this unique
part of the earth can be preserved.
Therefore I hope that everything will be
done to stop climate change. Of course,
the Wadden Sea can keep pace with a slow
rise of the sea level. On top Nordstrandischmoor
is protected by a stone rim built in the
1930s and sure, we could raise this rim
higher and higher but in my opinion, however,
this is not good idea. The Hallig grows
each year a little bit through the floods.
In principle we thus need the Land unter
but only if they are not too frequent and
not too high. Higher dams and stone rims
are also completely contradictory to the
idea of the biosphere reserve our Hallig
is part of and for which I do voluntary
work. This is meant to be a model region
where special ecosystems are to be protected.
Here we wish to live in harmony with nature.
A global problem that needs global solutions
It is not enough to call for higher dams
only and to leave the system unchanged.
We are not just talking about us. Here we
may have the money to protect ourselves
from the rising water but what can the poorest
of the poor do in Calcutta? I believe, we
have to change our behaviour and we have
to save energy as much as we can.
