Wildlife campaigners have warned that Ulster's finest wildlife sites could have disappeared by the time the Government gets round to protecting them. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) have criticised the "atrocious lack of progress" in the last 20 years in protecting Ulster's "crown jewels". Northern Ireland holds a significant proportion of the UK's bogland, which is home to threatened species such as red grouse, hen harriers and snipe. This land is also currently under threat from overgrazing, excessive peat cutting, drainage and lack of management. The Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) identified these habitats as being threatened back in 2003, but have remained slow in designating Areas of Special Scientific Interest (ASSIs).
Other regions of the UK have already designated all of their proposed ASSIs, which are the cream of the country's wildlife hotspots, however 229 remain unprotected in Ulster. The RSPB met with Environment Minister David Cairns this month, but received no assurances that any extra resources would be made available to protect the ASSI network. A spokesman for the Department of the Environment (DoE) responded by stating that 226 ASSIs had already been designated across Northern Ireland, and that, "A further 200 will be designated in the next 10 years."
