The sustained extraction of raw materials is carried out with consideration for the existing habitats with their flora and fauna. It gives targeted support for protection of species and biotopes during and after the extraction of the raw materials.
Research in recent years has shown that operational quarrying sites by no means have to necessarily look like “deserts in the landscape”; indeed they can have a networking function contributing towards greater biodiversity.
Knauf has repeatedly proved this.
Renaturation
In accordance with our tradition as a mining company, we have a special relationship to the environment and its mineral resources.
We are aware of the native symbioses of flora and fauna on the surface of the earth and in the top layers of the soil. Equally, we are aware that any intervention to the natural balance of things can be detrimental, no matter how sensitively or temporarily it is carried out.Our sense of responsibility for the environment causes us to give more back to nature than we take from it in the form of raw materials.
Luckily we are in a position to return the areas used for quarrying gypsum to nature completely free of pollution, either in the form of recultivated land for forestry or agriculture or as uncultivated, renatured areas. It is precisely renaturation that brings forth a large variety of biotopes specific to the respective locations, providing new habitats for a large number of species of flora and fauna.
