The 39th Session of the World Heritage Committee is meeting in Bonn, a stone’s throw from the headquarters of the Convention on Migratory Species and several of its associated agreements. Jacques Trouvilliez, Executive Secretary of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), and Rüdiger Strempel, Secretary of the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, examine the importance of those sites inscribed in the list for their natural rather than cultural qualities.