10 Reasons to visit Białowieża Forest
Białowieża Forest is a special place, yet surprising numbers of people outside Poland have never even heard of it. This is a shame, as it’s one of Europe’s few natural wonders – a primeval landscape and a hotspot of biodiversity. If that’s not enough to compel you to visit, here’s a list of 10 reasons […]
The story of the bison of Białowieża Forest
The story of the European bison is perhaps the textbook example of how humans can both decimate and restore nature. Europe’s biggest animal once roamed Europe’s vast primeval landscapes from Russia to Spain. But over the past millenium, the expanding human population drove its precipitous decline. People cut down their forests, planted crops on their […]
The Scientific Consensus Against Logging
Similarly to the worldwide narrative amongst climate deniers, the Polish government like to portray the scientific community as lacking consensus on the recent expansion of logging in Białowieża Forest. Simply put, this does not face up to scrutiny. The scale of opposition to the logging has become overwhelming, and there is a consensus: logging in […]
A selection of mushrooms in Białowieża Forest
The story and science behind the legal battle to save Europe’s last primeval forest
Białowieża Forest in northeastern Poland is the last of the vast primeval forest that once stretched across the European lowlands. Strictly protected for centuries by royalty as a private hunting ground, it is now a living museum of ancient natural processes replete with species extinct elsewhere. But the serenity of this fairy-tale forest has recently […]
Białowieża Protest Walk
The whole of Białowieża Primeval Forest should be a national park. Today we walked through the forest to protest against the government’s illegal logging. People came from all over Poland, and all walks of life to show their support for enlarging the national park. With the latest opinion polls showing that 2/3rds of Polish society […]