Polish government plans to cut one of Europe’s most valuable forests
- The Polish Government has confirmed its intention to cut the Bialowieza forest, which is located between Poland and Belarus and has been declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. The European Commission has issued a "final warning" warning him not to cut the forest.
Bialowieza is one of the most important forests in Central Europe. The Polish government says it will cut down trees to end a plague that has endangered the forest. The beetle on the surface of the fir eats the fir trees and the pine trees, and according to Warsaw, it has endangered the forest. That’s why it has tripled the amount of wood that can be cut in the forest: 188,000 cubic meters per year.
The International Union for the Conservation and Protection of Nature does not share the government’s beliefs, they do not believe that the beetle is a threat, and they denounce that they want to do business from the sale of wood.
Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and other environmentalists have filed a complaint with the European Commission asking it to transform the forest into a 150,000 hectare natural park with the same recognition as the forest in Belarus.
The European Commission has issued a "final warning" to the Polish government, but Environment Minister Jan Szyszko has responded that they have no intention of changing their plans and are not afraid to go to the European Court of Justice. Work is ongoing at the moment.
