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On Stony Ground |
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Great Asby Scar, Cumbria Photo: Simon Webb
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On Stony Ground |
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Great Asby Scar, Cumbria Photo: Simon Webb
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New research into limestone pavement destruction
In 1999 the Countryside Agency and the Irish Heritage Council commissioned an investigation into the trade in water-worn limestone between Ireland, the UK and the rest of Europe. The investigation was carried out by Traffic International, who are the joint wildlife trade monitoring programme of WWF and IUCN (The World Conservation Union). The report shows that the limestone landscape of Ireland is being destroyed to provide stone for British garden rockeries. Irish water-worn limestone also finds its way through the UK to Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Water-worn limestone comes from limestone pavement, a globally rare and unique habitat which is protected under the European Habitats and Species Directive. The most important areas of limestone pavement in the world are found in the UK and Ireland. Limestone pavement has been disappearing from the British countryside into garden rockeries and landscaping schemes for the past 150 years. In Britain there are only 3000 hectares of limestone pavement, 97% of which is already damaged. The Traffic report has highlighted the fact that the amount of limestone pavement removal in the UK has fallen due to improved legal protection and campaigning. However, there is still a market for water-worn limestone in the UK, and stone is being plundered from Irish pavements to fulfill the demand. The report also shows that pavement stone is being removed illegally from sites with statutory protection in both the UK and Ireland. During the investigation 259 extractors, traders, wholesalers and retailers were contacted. Water worn limestone extraction in the Irish Republic was found to occur at 10 sites in counties Clare, Galway and Mayo. In the UK, there are six quarries from which water worn limestone can still be extracted legally. Most of the pavement stone has already been extracted and sits in stockpiles. A number of individuals questioned in the Irish Republic were removing pavement illegally and stated that they would continue until prevented from doing so. On a more positive note, many farmers in the Burren area will not sell the limestone pavement on their land because if they are caught doing so they may lose government grants. In the UK, four possible sources of illegally obtained water worn limestone were uncovered. Details of illegal activities have been passed to the relevant authorities and may result in prosecution. A man was recently jailed for four months for illegally removing pavement stone from an area of the Burren, in Ireland. Because illegally acquired stone is on the market, it is impossible for the consumer to tell if the stone they buy is from a legal source or not. Some traders are marketing Irish limestone as ‘sustainable’, which it clearly is not. The report makes several recommendations based on the information collected, including:
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