Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
reduce pumping in the area. Yet this programme
has not encouraged changes of behaviour or
alternatives but rather the same practices, but with
less intensity. It is a lost opportunity and goes
against the environmental policy principle of
'pumper/ resource user pays'.
To summarise, the Tablas de Daimiel case is
an example of unsustainable regional
development, of short-term economic and
social development at the expense of long-term
environmental damage. Some think that
restoration is now impossible; at a recent
Ramsar meeting in Seville, consideration was
given to removing the Tablas de Daimiel from
the Ramsar site list, since it was a 'dry' wetland.
It appears that slowly all parties involved are
realising that the depletion of the aquifer
damages all stakeholders. Ironically, climate
change may be responsible for three unusually
wet years after five years of drought; this rainfall
has temporarily reduced tension (and
abstractions) in the area. It has also allowed
dialogue to restart, to identify future strategies
for achieving sustainable rural development and
the survival of the Tablas de Daimiel wetland.
This case study illustrates well the problems
facing those responsible for the conservation of
wetlands into the twenty-first century:
An example of sensitive management is the
case of Wicken Fen in England, located in the
East Anglian fenland. This fenland covered
approximately 3380km 2 in the seventeenth
century, of which the southern part, peat-based
Black Fens, occupied 1480km 2 (Butlin 1990;
Newson 1994). The main attempt to drain the
Cambridgeshire fenland was the general drainage
of the seventeenth century, which was conducted
by Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutch engineer,
in two phases between 1630 and 1653. The
investment in the drainage came from the Earl of
Bedford and thirteen other 'adventurers', who as
payment, obtained 38,500 ha of drained land
from the local landowners (Williams 1990). This
fenland drainage system forms the largest ditch
network in Britain. Between 1637 and 1954,
there was a reduction in area of the East Anglian
fens from 3380 km 2 to 10 km 2 .
Wicken Fen 1 is one of the oldest nature reserves
in Britain, and since 1899 it has been owned and
managed by the National Trust as 'a remnant of a
once extensive landscape' (Gilman 1994: p. 24).
Wicken Fen is a Ramsar site, a National Nature
Reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and
an cSAC, famous mainly as an entomological and
botanical reserve, e.g. for the fen violet (Viola
persicifolia) . It is located approximately 15 km
northeast of Cambridge and in the southeastern
edge of the fenland basin, in the East
Cambridgeshire district. The geology is sedge peat
over Gault clay (Rowell 1986).
Wicken Fen was a summer dry/winter wet fen
during the 1630s and was not intended to be
drained sufficiently to be winter dry (Rowell
1986). It had various traditional uses: sedge for
thatching, some peat cutting for fuel and 'litter'
(common reed Phragmites australis and purple
moor-grass Molinia caerulea) for animal bedding
(Godwin 1978). The underlying clay was used for
local brick making (Gilman 1994). Wild crops of
reed and sedge are still harvested under the present
management, to the benefit of 30,000
the prevention of further damage and loss of
wetland habitat;
conserving remaining wetlands;
rehabilitating damaged wetlands; and
creating new wetlands.
The challenge to geographers is developing
management systems and practices that allow
the sustainable use of wetlands. This is
increasingly concerned with the human
dimension, for example the socio-economic
aspects related to wetlands, reasons why
communities are led, through the current
economic system which emphasises short-term
benefit, and unsustainable management. Also
how, on a regional or global scale, wetland
functions are affected by policies such as the
Common Agricultural Policy or international
trade, e.g. of fisheries.
1 Students are advised to visit theWicken Fen web site on: http: //
www.demon.co.uk/ecoln/wicken_fen/
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