prvi hrvatski speleološki kongres - KARST underground protection

Karst Atlas of the Viroin
Atlas krša područja Viroin
Georges Michel 1 & Jean -Pierre Bartholeyns 1,2
1
Walloon Commission for the Study and Protection of Subterranean Sites (CWEPSS), Av Guillaume
Gilbert, 21 – 1050 Brussels – Belgium
2 Union Internationale de speleologie (UIS)
Key words: Karst, Atlas, karstic inventory, caves,Viroin, Belgium
Ključne riječi: krš, atlas, popis krških pojava, spilje,Viroin, Belgija
The cartographic and descriptive inventory of the Viroin falls under the
series of monographs published by CWEPSS for a better management of caves,
calcareous environments and subsoil water issues.
Subsoil concerns in the Upper Meuse
The Belgian Upper Meuse is a territory of great landscape, biological,
hydrological, geological, economic, cultural,…interest. The various actors who
benefit from the quality of this environment also endanger its fragile balance. From
the end of the 1980s, the signs of a degradation of this environment, resulting from
too short term management and closed, not integrating sufficiently the environmental
and landscape functions, served as a warning signal.
A river contract on the scale of the Upper Meuse has been initiated since 1991.
Its objective: to prevent the degradation of this medium by putting forward actions
which integrate, in a durable development prospect, the endorsement of economic
functions and the voluntary safeguard of the environment and associated ecosystems.
The actions of the river contract give a good place to the river's ecosystem,
with the preservation of the wetlands, the aquatic biodiversity and the surface water.
Its famous limestone cliffs, its karstic caves and sources, its show caves and its
catchments, the Upper Meuse valley is closely associated to the sites and subsoil
waters. However, this environment under our feet suffers from a lack of recognition.
The river contract (referred to by CWEPSS) understood this venture well. From the
beginning, in its first action plan (1994), the plans in favour of the protection of
subsoil waters, recognizing the vulnerability of the karstic sites, are registered
amongst the priority actions.
CWEPSS consequently publishes the Upper Meuse Karst Atlas (1996).
Limited to the area of the 6 councils which constituted the territory of the river
contract, this atlas becomes a reference work.
Extension to the entire catchment basin
From 2005, with a concern for integrated management, the River Contract
extends beyond the territory of the 6 councils bordering on the river to include the
“upstream Meuse” hydrographic sub-basin. It is the transposition in the Walloon Area
of the European Framework Water Directive.
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