Only One Ireland: Ireland's peatlands under threat

Friday, February 23, 2007

Ireland's peatlands under threat

According to the Irish Peatland Conservation Council (IPCC) it has recently become apparent that the Irish government

"are slowing down on their designation of Irish peatlands as Natural Heritage Areas (NHAs). This inaction means that sites that are currently proposed as Natural Heritage Areas under national legislation (link), are in fact not protected at all".

The IPCC is particularly concerned about fens. Developers are at liberty to destroy them, which they often do:

"Two proposed NHA fens in Waterford - Kilbarry Bog and Ballina Lough have been
badly damaged. Even more depressing is the case of Girley Raised Bog in Co.
Meath, a designated NHA where a developer inserted drains all over the site"

The IPCC's Peatlands Under Threat Campaign aims to review the status of every peatland site in Ireland including

a review and update of the boundaries, names, habitat and species designations of all existing and new peatland Special Areas of Conservation (SACs - a European Network of protected areas)

a comparison of the IPCC's information on the boundaries, names and quality of all existing and new peatland Natural Heritage Areas (NHAs) with similar information arising by a recent survey by the National Parks and Wildlife Service

Arising from these reviews the IPCC aims to publish a new strategic action plan to ensure longterm protection for Irish peatlands.

Read the Irish Peatland Conservation Council Action Plan 2005

Join the IPCC to support and get regular updates on their work

The island of ireland

Once upon a time, and for 15000 years, ice a mile high blanketed Ireland. When the lingering Ice Age finally released and the Irish ice departed it left a landscape scoured. Across land bridges linking Ireland, Britain and mainland Europe plants and animals arrived to colonise the new lowlands, mountains and valleys. The world’s ice continued to melt, the sea levels to rise, and some 8000 years ago Ireland became the island we now know, accounting for just 0.01% of the world's total land area and the most westerly point of Europe.

Though at Alaskan latitudes, the country's climate is tempered, due partly to the neighbouring waters of the Gulf Stream and partly the prevailing southwesterlies that veering and backing make landfall on our sodden coast. These offerings from the Atlantic mean it is never too hot, never too cold. But without doubt it is wet. Rain lingers year round, never far away, though is most frequent in winter, the western counties and, inevitably, on the day of your parade.