UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee is “concerned” about the state of the Wadden Sea and will discuss the issue this week at its 46th annual meeting in New Delhi.

The committee has been meeting in India to determine which World Heritage sites should be added to the list and which should be declared endangered. Last year, UNESCO warned it was concerned about plans to extract gas from under the sea, saying the move threatened biodiversity.

The Wadden Sea, an area of ​​islands, sea and mudflats stretching from the Netherlands to Denmark, was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2009.

A new UNESCO study of the environmentally sensitive area has found that the situation is not currently serious enough to warrant endangered status. However, the report notes, there could be “potential cumulative effects” from numerous activities and infrastructure developments.

According to the committee, these problems include oil, salt and gas extraction, ports and shipping, and energy facilities, which “could be exacerbated by climate change, particularly accelerating sea level rise”.

The report’s findings will be discussed by delegates on Thursday.

In March, the then Minister of Mines Hans Vijlbrief blocked plans to extract gas from under the Wadden Sea after it became apparent that sea levels were rising faster than previously predicted.

Gas company NAM hoped to start drilling off the Frisian north coast to compensate for the closure of the Groningen gas field. This closure caused thousands of earthquakes and destabilized buildings in the northern province.

The House of Representatives has already voted against NAM’s permit to open a drilling location in the village of Ternaard and last year a majority of Frisians were against the plan in the provincial elections.