Campaigners
in Poland are worried about the future of one of Europe's last
primeval forests, as the Polish government defies an European Union order to stop
logging there.
Primeval
forest like Białowieża in Poland once covered the European plain 10,000 years
ago, the forest and the rare species that call it home are nearly all that's
left. It is habitat to 20,000 animal species, including 250 types
of bird and hundreds of European bison, along with towering firs, oaks and
ashes.
Designated a UNESCO World
Heritage site in 1979, the forest blankets
the border between Poland and Belarus, but on the Polish side the forest has
become a battleground. The country's Nationalist government has brought heavy-duty
harvesters into Białowieża; they claim it is to tackle a bark beetle infestation, but
environmentalists backed by the EU say that is a smoke screen for
commercial logging.
It
was Environment Minister Jan Szyszko’s decision to triple the amount of logging
back in 2016. Szyszko said the operation was aimed at
protecting sites of great heritage value that are part of Natura 2000, an EU
network set up to preserve Europe’s most valuable and threatened species and
habitats.
In August, the European
court of justice ordered Poland to stop logging. “I didn't expect them to withdraw; I thought
maybe they would try to hide their activity for maybe one week, but that didn't
happen,” said Jakub Rok, an environmental researcher and activist. “Just a few days after the decision, they
were already working exactly the same way.”
An act of defiance like this by a European member state is
unprecedented.
Activists have been
trying to block the harvesters for months. “Our aim is to protect the forest
and our tool is using nonviolent direct action,” said Rok. They thought the
court ruling would stop the logging, but it makes allowances for public safety
– a technicality that was used by the government.
The fact is that there
is a beetle infestation in Białowieża; dead spruce trees are everywhere, it's just
most scientists don't believe that's necessarily a problem. “We, as scientists
don’t see any danger, any threat to the forest,” said Rafal Kowalczyk, Head of
the Mammal Research Institute.
“The larger part of the
natural section of the forest was never planted by humans. In this forest,
there are also spruce trees dying. The
large amount is very important in a natural forest, because there is a lot of
biological diversity linked to the dead wood.
They [the ministry] are using the bark beetle outbreak as a reason for
the logging, which is not true.”
“We need to halt this [bark beetle] disease in
its tracks,” said Poland’s environment minister Jan Szyszko. “We need to ensure
that there is a healthy logging of trees, something that is planned. We want to
protect priority habitats for the EU. We are trying to improve and correct the
situation.”
The
only published inventory shows that nearly half of the trees earmarked for
logging may be non-spruce varieties, which have been unaffected by the beetle
outbreak. Environmental campaigners warn that the tree chopping will destroy an ecosystem unspoiled for more than 10,000 years.
The protection of the Białowieża Forest dates back to the
14th century. It is now protected by several Polish, European and international
protected area systems such as UNESCO World Heritage List and Natura 2000. 17%
of the Polish side of the Forest is also a national park, although for more
than 20 years scientists and experts have recommended the protection of the
entire Bialowieza Forest as a national park.
“I'm really frustrated
that I'm a witness of something which is irreversible,” said Arkadiusz Smyk, a
local anti-logging group member. “If you
convert a natural forest into a regular managed forest, you make this forest
exactly the same as other forests in Europe.”
The real tragedy is that
somewhere amidst the politics. a unique forest is being destroyed and its value
remains the one thing all sides can agree on.
Will this unique forest survive the fight for its future? It's about the forest; the forest must win.
To show your support of
the Białowieża Forest in
Poland, log onto: www.ilovebialowieza.com
-- Based on recent reports by the BBC and other
sources
