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IPCC spearhead campaign to protect fens

For Release 28th Febraury 2000

More than 1/2 of Ireland's fens have disappeared in the last 200 years as a
result of human activities and many more are facing imminent extinction.

That's the message behind the Irish Peatland Conservation Council latest
wetland campaign - focusing on fens.

"Two hundred years ago fens extended over hundreds of square miles in
Ireland - a magnificent landscape that would have taken your breath away"
explains Dr Peter Foss, Chairman of IPCC.

As these fenlands were drained, birds became rarer, and the bittern was
driven to extinction. The loss of fens continues today. This habitat will
almost certainly disappear without a programme of conservation action.

Fens are places where land and water meet. In these "half-way" worlds you
find a curious mixture of terrestrial and aquatic environments - rich in
wildlife and habitats. They occur in a range of locations such as on
lakeshores, in river flood plains, valleys and basins.

Fens support internationally and nationally significant wildlife species of
birds, snails, butterflies, wild flowers and insects. 25 of Ireland's most
endangered rare plants and animals survive only in fens.

The full extent of the habitat is still unknown in Ireland because there
has never been a national survey. Of the three peatland types in Ireland,
fens have the lowest protected area - only 746ha have been conserved in a
mere 12 sites.

"The Irish Government have not declared a target area for fen conservation,
that we can work towards. And yet, at the same time these areas are the
most at risk from drainage, landfill and road widening projects." explains
Dr. Foss "This is completely unacceptable."

IPCC has called on Dúchas to initiate a national fen survey without delay
and propose additional Natural Heritage Areas and Special Areas of
Conservation.

In addition over the next 12 months the IPCC will be characterising the
different types of fen found in Ireland; surveying selected fens to produce
an up-to-date list of sites worthy of conservation; and preparing and
publishing a conservation strategy for fens for circulation to Government
and the EU.

These measures will help ensure the future of these - the rarest of Irish
wetlands - in the future.

IPCC - Action for Bogs - Ag caomhnu na bportach

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