Just like the gypsum is responsible for the formation of this region, it turns out to be the source of its problems. Natural gypsum is a coveted raw material for the building industry. Nowhere in the world you can find natural gypsum in the purity and expansion like in the Southern Harz Gypsum Karst Region.
In many places the gypsum industry has dug gigantic holes into the ground in order to get to the “white gold”. Since its foundation more than ten years ago, BUND Thuringia fights against the expansion of gypsum mining in the Southern Harz region. The progress of mining involves not only the destruction of unique biotopes, but also ruins the perspectives for development of a whole region.
During the last years, the conflict between the gypsum mining industry and the Thuringian government on the one side and the population of the region on the other side has grown more acute. In the year 2001 an alliance of municipalities, agricultural, forestry and nature protection associations dismissed the expansion of gypsum mining, but in 2002 the Thuringian government permitted further mining activities, without checking whether the mining is agreeable and does not endanger the region. The government keeps to the so called gypsum agreement, a trade-off between the government and the gypsum industry, giving the industry further permission for mining activities.
