Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
For long peat has been exploited as fuel after drying. Another
application has becomes predominant in some decades past: it is
extracted for use as horticultural substrate. In some European countries
it is necessary to ban these practices that degrade the last natural
spaces used by birds. Some governments, that of the United Kingdom
in particular, have given notice of their desire to drastically reduce the
extraction of peat.
In France, many wetlands have disappeared since the Middle Ages under
the impetus given by large monasteries for development of pasture or
of crops on moist, rich lands. Later on, (16th and 17th centuries), many
ponds were created to supply the fish needed for the 'meatless Fridays'
imposed by the Catholic Church. But it resulted in major public-health
problems (typhoid, malaria). Drainage was resumed and the wetlands
were reduced by three-fourths since then. Those that remained then
slowly vanished because of agricultural drainage or execution of large
port-development works.
It is, therefore, necessary that the remaining wetlands in Europe be
protected:
They contain specialized plants (
Drosera rotundifolia, Salix lap-
ponum
), in all 30 per cent of remarkable plant species.
They are bird sanctuaries (50 per cent of bird species are linked to
wetlands) and provide resting places for the great migrations.
They are involved in the regulation of hydrological regimes; in
contrast, drainage is for the purpose of extracting more rapidly
the soil water, which leads to the danger of increased flooding
downstream.
They are traps for nitrogen and phosphorus and are involved in
denitrification.
They have great tourism value and, in some cases, give a special
cachet to an entire region (for example, the Mont Saint Michel
bay registered in the World Heritage list).
Lastly, they sometimes have great scientific value because of
the pollens and other evidence of the past contained in them,
including traces of lake cities.
Considerable effort has been taken at the national, European and
international levels to ensure protection of the wetlands that still survive.
International conventions, European directives, edicts, decrees, laws and
Protection of wetlands
