Bialowieza Forest: Court of Justice sentence tomorrow

[Jacek]

As far as I know, tomorrow the Court of Justice of the European Union will pass a sentence in a case against Poland.

Here is a piece of my forum entry in winter:

There is one notable exception - Puszcza Białowieska or Bialowieza Forest. This is the last partly primitive/natural lowland forest in central and western Europe. Nowadays 40% of this forest lies in Poland, 60% in Belarus.

The reason why it was preserved is historical. First it was a private hunting ground of  Great Princes of Lithuania, later after  union with Poland it was owned by Polish kings and later after partition of Poland it was owned by Russian Tsars. Thus it was continuously protected, without partition, significant logging or converting to agriculture, until 1915 when German army took this area within I World War. Intensive logging was executed during both wars. In between wars and after 1945 some logging was done but also significant protection was instituted. For instance a National Park covering only small part of the forest was created in 1932.

This forest belongs to state of Poland, no private parts. National Park is only part of the forest, but all the forest is protected as a Nature 2000 area and is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

This relatively stable protection lasted until 2015 when our government decided to log part of the trees. Officially the reason for intervention is widespread infection of spruces by Ips typographus. While true, this is a natural phenomenon. True, it kills spruces, but these trees are minority in Bialowieza Forest. Moreover, dead wood is beneficial in natural ecosystems. And so our government sent heavy  equipment, including harvesters, to cure the nature. Needless to say-  not only spruces are logged.

You can imagine how painful it is for people who think nature  protection is important. Government resulting form democratic election - my government - is trying to erase hundreds of years of strenuous protective effort. It really looks to me like Evil action.

 Of course, we are still in EU. And the EU Commission initiated a case against Poland at the Court of Justice in Luxembourg. And I mentally support this action, I feel European.

Thanks to the Court of Justice preventive measures the logging has already been stopped. Yet, the devastation due to heavy equipment use will heal for long. Now more human intervention in the nature is done - the forestry workers are planting new trees in the cleared places. I wonder what kind of trees - probably Pinus sylvestris, a tree that is a minority in Bialowieza Forest.

Many people from many countries were involved in continuous protests against logging. Many of them have now lawsuits.

Here one can see some films documenting the damage (in Polish) https://infografiki.wyborcza.pl/wyrok-na-puszcze/desktop.html

But there are many English texts and films as well
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-poland-logging/polands-new-environment-minister-signals-little-change-on-forest-logging-idUSKBN1F115E
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42064184

The Bialowieza Forest is 12 000 years old - since the last glaciation.

[Maggi Young]

State sponsored vandalism.  Too much of that about in many countries.

[ian mcdonald]

None more so than that in the UK.

[Maggi Young]

Press release from  Magda Figura, Greenpeace:

Victory for the Bialowieza Forest!
"It took a long time but finally we have it - GREAT news for the Bialowieza Forest and all its defenders - the European Court of Justice have ruled that increased logging allowed by Poland’s former Minister of Environment, Jan Szyszko, was illegal! This judgement is effective immediately, which means our current Minister of Environment is obliged to cancel Szyszko’s decision right away. Together we’ve taken a huge step towards the end of the devastation of the Bialowieza Forest! But we can’t stop here. We need to ensure that the Forest is protected in its entirety as a national park.
I hope we will never witness devastation of the forest again in the future. Heavy machines crushing the forest undergrowth and smashing young trees, the whirr of saws and harvesters and the dull crack of falling trees - I still see and hear this when I close my eyes. It can never happen again! To ensure the Forest animals live long and peaceful lives and that new generations of trees rise, permanent protection is needed - protection in the form of a national park for the entire forest. Let’s continue our joint effort with the same strength we used against logging until the forest is safe.

We’ve been working on the protection of the Bialowieza Forest for many years now, but we’ve never had such strong support from people from all over the world, including you! And today… let’s celebrate! The EU Court ruling is a huge success for the Forest Defenders. And it is your success as well! Thank you so much, we did it together!

All the best,

Magda Figura and the Greenpeace Poland forest team  "