Marker Wadden 1.71

The Marker Wadden is a project aimed at creating islands in the Markermeer in the Netherlands. The first island was inaugurated on September 24th, 2016.ProjectThe project was presented in 2012, by the Vereniging Natuurmonumenten. The Dutch government, BirdLife Netherlands, ANWB and VNO-NCW are partners.Works on the first phase, which is mainly focused on the construction of the first island, started in April 2016, Boskalis Westminster has been awarded the contract for this phase.The main aims are to create breeding grounds, islands and coast line and to improve the water ecology of the Markermeer. The project creates a wetland, comparable with the Wadden Sea (hence the name of the project), but without tides because the Markermeer is not connected to the sea and in a fresh water environment. The new nature reserve will be accessible to tourists.On 11 May 2016, the first square metres of land emerged, which Natuurmonumenten called a 'milestone'. In March 2017 it was announced that four other islands should be completed before 2020.Critical viewsThe ecologist claimed he first had the idea in 1996 and talks about 'plagiarism'.